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2nd draft of the Air Quality Criteria for Particulate Matter from the US EPA

12 April 2001

The National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), within the US EPA’s Office of Research and Development, published a second external review draft of the Air Quality Criteria for Particulate Matter for public review and comment. The purpose of the document is to provide an assessment of the latest scientific information on the effects of airborne particulate matter (PM) on the public health and welfare for use in the next periodic review of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for PM.

The EPA review of the NAAQS for is due in 2002. The ambient PM standards include a standard for particulates below 10 µm (PM10), and a standard for particulates below 2.5 µm (PM2.5). The latter standard was introduced in 1997, challenged by the industry and remanded by court, and, recently, re-instituted by the US Supreme Court.

The draft document can be downloaded from the EPA web site by following the link below. Comments on the draft document must be submitted in writing no later than 12 July 2001.

Download the document

Source: EPA