Several members of Congress have introduced a bill to remove important air quality standards. This bill will keep us breathing health-damaging air pollution. The bill, H.R. 2288, will cancel out the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule that says that in order to protect health, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) must be kept at or below 9.0 μg/m3. If it passes, the bill will allow too much PM2.5 – tiny particles just 2.5 micrograms or smaller – to be in the air we breathe.
We don’t understand why a member of Congress would propose a policy that would lead to more asthma, strokes, heart attacks, dementia, cancer, and premature babies in their own districts and for the whole country. All we can think is that either they don’t understand the dire health consequences of air pollution, or they don’t care about the health of the people who elected them.
Here is why the PM2.5 annual standard of 9.0 μg/m3 is so good for health: Many medical studies show that the previous annual standard of 12.0 μg/m3 was not strong enough to protect health. EPA has to review standards every 5 years to be sure the standards protect health. EPA reviewed the evidence, took public comments, and then wisely lowered the annual PM2.5 standard to 9.0 μg/m3. Numerous health and medical groups advocated for an even stronger standard, to better protect health. These included the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, the Medical Consortium on Climate and Health, the Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment, the American Lung Association, and many others. Mothers and Others strongly supported lowering the PM2.5 standard, so we can all be healthier and live our lives to the fullest. You can read our testimony to the EPA here.
PM2.5 really affects health here in the Southeast. In Georgia, when PM2.5 levels are higher, more children visit the ER for asthma and respiratory infections. In North Carolina, people who live in more polluted areas have to go in the hospital more for new onset dementia. And for the Southeast as a whole, when PM2.5 is higher, more people have to go in the hospital for pneumonia, COPD, cancer, heart attacks, heart failure, and strokes. These extra hospital admissions happen even when the higher levels are lower than the previous standard of 12.0 μg/m3.
In addition, in the last year we have learned that PM2.5 reduces children’s IQ. It also causes more deaths from cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, strokes, and congestive heart failure at levels less than 8.0 μg/m3.
PM2.5 is so dire for health. It damages to every organ in our body and affects our mental health. It causes damage from before babies are born, through the childhood, teen, and adult years, all the way until we are elders.
We urge everyone in every district to use our action link to contact your member of Congress (or call them – phone numbers are in the action link too). Tell them that you care about health and that you don’t want you or your family to breathe more air pollution. All members need to hear from us, especially the ones who don’t understand how dire PM2.5 is for our health.
