October 17, 2008

EPA Lowers Lead Standard

For the first time since 1978, the Environmental Protection Agency has issued stricter standards for airborne lead. The EPA was under a court-imposed deadline to issue new rules for lead emissions by October 15, 2008. The new standard of 0.2 ug/m3 over a three--month rolling average replaces the previous standard of 1.5 ug/m3 averaged over a quarter.

While the EPA's issuing of a stricter standard has been welcomed by the public health community, the revised standard still falls short of what the ATS and other scientific groups have recommended. The Society advocated for a standard of no higher than 0.2 ug/m3 over a one-month averaging period. By allowing a three-month rolling averaging time, the revised standard will permit spikes of lead emissions to be hidden in the rolling average. The ATS has also recommended that the EPA adopt more advanced technology for monitoring lead emissions. This recommendation was not adopted by the EPA.

TB Bill Signed Into Law

This week, the domestic tuberculosis (TB) bill reached its final milestone with enactment into law by the President - a major victory for the ATS! The Comprehensive TB Elimination Act, sponsored by Reps. Green (D-TX) and Wilson (R-NM) and Sens. Brown (D-OH) and Hutchison (R-TX), unanimously passed both chambers of Congress in late September.

This legislation authorizes a 43-percent increase in funding for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Tuberculosis Elimination, including funding for state TB control programs, and expands research on TB diagnostic, treatment and prevention tools at the CDC and National Institutes of Health. The bill will also intensify targeted efforts to prevent, detect and treat the disease among African Americans and other minorities and expand detection of TB at the U.S.-Mexico border and treatment of bi-national TB cases.

Enactment of the Comprehensive TB Elimination Act is the culmination of several years of advocacy led by the ATS, in collaboration with the National TB Controller's Association and Stop TB USA. The ATS Washington Office thanks all members who contacted their members of Congress in support of this legislation.

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