EPA slashes lead limit in air by 90 percent

[amyrose2712]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Environmental Protection Agency is slashing the amount of lead allowed in the nation's air by 90 percent.

EPA officials, who were under a federal court order to set a new health standard for lead by midnight Wednesday, said the new limit would better protect health, especially children's. Exposure to even low levels of lead early in life can affect learning, IQ and memory.

"Our nation's air is cleaner today than just a generation ago, and last night I built upon this progress by signing the strongest air quality standards for lead in our nation's history," Stephen Johnson, the EPA administrator, said Thursday. "Thanks to this stronger standard, EPA will protect my children from remaining sources of airborne lead."

The new limit -- 0.15 micrograms per cubic meter -- is the first update to the lead standard since 1978, when it helped phase out leaded gasoline. It is ten times lower than the current standard, which was 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter.
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It is also more stringent than the level recommended in May by the agency's scientific advisers. In contrast, the Bush administration did not follow its own staff's advice or its science advisers when it set new health standards for smog and soot that were less stringent than recommended.


http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/16/epa.lead.air.standard.ap/index.html

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. A-rollin' back them good ol' boy Bush deregulations

:rofl:

haha, Mr. pResident! :rofl:

[Donnachaidh]

2. the EPA decided to do some actual WORK now?

Wonder how quick the new administration will be in kicking out the Bush appointees?

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Seriously, what is going on?

Suddenly many news stories of EPA doing its job: air cleaner, beluga whales being put on
endangered list, sonar limits increased...
Don't they know that after 8 years of loudly ignoring the planet, this kind of behavior would stick out like a neon sign??

[bananas]

4. Maybe they're hoping to hold onto their jobs next year. nt

[unhappycamper]

7. It's not gonna happen. n/t

[modrepub]

6. Mandated

EPA is required to periodically revise its standards based on new scientific information. The lead standard hasn't been revised since 1978. Lead is another example of control programs that actually worked. Lead-based paint and gasoline are largely a thing of the past. Some prop airplanes still used leaded fuel but they are the exception. Today your best bet for lead exposure is from historical lead-contaminated soils or old paint, unless you're getting it through foreign manufactured goods.

[TZ]

5. Sounds like the administration made a mistake

and actually put a COMPETANT person in charge at the EPA. Even a broken clock is right twice a day///