FACT SHEET: Particulate Matter in Indoor/Outdoor Air Does NOT Cause Death
This is the ultimate fact sheet for debunking what has become the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s most potent regulatory weapon — the claim that fine particulate matter (soot and dust called PM2.5) in outdoor air kills people. This sheet will be updated regularly as needed. This will be Version 1 (September 22, 2016). Please let me know if you have comments/suggestions.
The Claim. Since 1996, EPA has claimed that PM2.5 causes death.
The EPA’s position is that:
ANY inhalation of PM2.5 — even one molecule — can cause death;
Death from PM2.5 may occur within hours of inhalation (i.e., on a short-term basis or, literally, “sudden death”) and that;
Death from PM2.5 may occur after decades of inhalation (i.e., on a long-term basis).
EPA claims that manmade PM2.5 causes as many as 500,000 deaths annually — i.e., about one in five deaths in the U.S. [1]
In support its claim that PM2.5 kills, EPA points to “thousands” of epidemiologic (statistical studies of human populations), toxicologic (experiments on animals) and clinical (experiments on humans) studies. [2] EPA further claims that the agency’s conclusions have been endorsed by its Clean Air Act Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), a board of supposedly “independent” science advisors.[3]
What is PM2.5? PM2.5 (see image below) is very small/fine soot and dust in the air. It has natural sources (e.g., forest fires, volcanoes, pollen, molds) and manmade sources (e.g., smokestack/tailpipe emissions, fires (fireplaces, campfires, grills), smoking). Depending on source, PM2.5 will vary in composition (i.e., PM2.5 in smoke is different than pollen PM2.5).
https://junkscience.com/2016/09/fact-sheet-particulate-matter-in-outdoor-air-does-not-cause-death/
