17 Oct New standards reduce lead level X10

For the first time in 30 years, on October 16, 2008 , the U.S. EPA strengthened the nation’s air quality standards for lead, a pollutant that can cause organ, brain and nerve damage, lower intelligence, suppress the immune system, cause high blood pressure and increase heart disease.

The new standards reduce the allowable lead level 10 times to 0.15 micrograms of lead per cubic meter (ug/m3) of air from the previous standards, set in 1978.

EPA’s action sets two standards: a primary standard at 0.15 ug/m3 to protect health and a secondary standard at the same level to protect the public welfare, including the environment.
The primary sources of lead emissions have been motor vehicles and lead smelters, waste incinerators, utilities, and lead-acid battery manufacturers.

The EPA action results from a lawsuit filed four years ago by Leslie and Jack Warden, Missouri residents who sought to get the federal government to consider tougher standards for lead in the air.
The Wardens’ lawsuit alleged, and a federal judge agreed, that the Clean Air Act requires the air quality standard for lead to be reviewed every five years.

As many as 16,000 industrial facilities in the United States have been operating under the old standard, pumping hundreds of thousands of pounds of lead into the air every year. The smelters that melt old batteries are among the worst lead polluters.

Children are particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning.