事情发生的经过: Political officials sidelined Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists and disregarded the science on potential health risks caused by fine particulate matter pollution. These actions led to a finalized National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter that the best available science suggests is less protective for human health.
为什么重要: 通过排挤617888九五至尊娱乐家, the EPA failed to utilize the best available science to develop evidence-based environmental and public health protections. Instead of using the best available science to safeguard communities from harmful air pollution, 尤其是那些受到不成比例影响的人, 环保局的政治官员将政治考虑置于617888九五至尊娱乐之上.
特朗普政府的环境保护署官员 而617888九五至尊娱乐家 that stated the best available science showed that the existing National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter 2.直径小于等于5微米(PM2).5)是有害的，因此对pm2.5采取更严格的NAAQS措施.5个是为了保护公众健康. 具体来说，美国环保署的617888九五至尊娱乐家在一份报告中写道 政策评估草案 that the best available science suggested that the annual particulate matter standard should be tightened to between 8 and 10 micrograms per cubic meter and they cited evidence suggesting that reducing the limit to 9 micrograms per cubic meter could save between 9,050及34,每年有600条生命. 当环保署的617888九五至尊娱乐家向环保署署长安德鲁·惠勒提交这项政策评估时, Wheeler claimed that evidence that they presented was insufficient and that t在这里 was no the need to tighten the standards for particulate matter. 这导致环保局最终确定了PM2的NAAQS.5，保持了以前的标准, despite the body of evidence showing that this will lead to public health and environmental harms.
目前pm2.5的NAAQS.第5条于2012年颁布, which set the annual standard for air pollution from fine-particulate matter to 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air. 最近的研究 strongly suggests that lowering the standard to a more protective limit of nine micrograms per cubic meter of air could reduce the risks of adverse health effects such as heart attack, 中风, 以及长期吸入PM2导致的死亡.5暴露.
据估计，在2020年，颗粒物会导致 每年有超过10万人死亡 在美国. PM2.5 is an air pollutant that can reduce visibility and cause the air to appear hazy when pollution levels are elevated. 这些微粒可以被吸入肺部深处，对公众构成巨大威胁. 研究表明，这些颗粒会导致 严重的破坏 对人体呼吸系统的影响, posing an even greater threat to those who have pre-existing conditions such as heart or lung disease. 哈佛大学T.H. 陈公共卫生学院进行了一项研究 对美国3000多个县的分析 and discovered that COVID-19 patients who were chronically exposed to elevated levels of PM2.其中5种与较高的死亡率有关.
A series of unprecedented attacks occurred during the Trump administration on what were supposed to be independent scientific processes to evaluate the health effects of PM2.5暴露. 这包括 解散项目管理检讨小组美国清洁空气617888九五至尊娱乐咨询委员会(CASAC)公开承认 缺乏专业知识 评估PM2.5个标准，以及国资委 考虑一种方法 that would have limited the types of epidemiological studies used to assess the health risks of air pollution. 可以查看这些攻击的完整时间表 在这里. 2019年，忧思617888九五至尊娱乐家联盟 主持会议 重新召集之前解散的项目管理审查小组, 专家组压倒性地表示，目前的PM2.5 .标准不能保障公众健康.
Communities of color and 低收入 communities historically have been disproportionately overburdened by pollution from neighboring industrial facilities. A 2019 研究 忧思617888九五至尊娱乐家联盟发现，平均而言, communities of color in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic breathe 66 percent more air pollution from vehicles than white residents and that white residents make up 85 percent of the total populations of people living in areas with the lowest PM2.5污染. A 2021 研究 found that communities of color on average had exposure rates almost 3x higher than communities with white residents. The lack of implementation of stricter environmental protections from the EPA contributes to the continuous, 系统性PM2.边缘化社区所经历的暴露差异.
The decision-making process on setting air pollution standards should be guided by independent science and it is required to do so under the Clean Air Act. 当该机构无视现有的最佳617888九五至尊娱乐时, the government is less able to reduce hazards to the public health and the environment from particulate matter pollution. 这对服务不足的社区尤其不利, 黑色的, 土著, 低收入, 有色人种社区, who experience higher levels of PM pollution and often have only minimal protections available to safeguard their health. 环保局是 负责任的 for protecting human health but under the Trump administration the agency endangered the health and safety of people across the nation by sidelining federal scientists to appeal to political considerations.