The Environmental Protection Agency has finally done the right thing and reduced the legal limit of lead emissions, despite years of lobbying by industrial battery recyclers who claim the limit will put them out of business. The lead regulations hadn’t been updated since 1978, and over 6,000 studies have shown that exposure even to miniscule amounts can cause problems like mental retardation in children, nerve damage and heart attacks.
From The Huffington Post:
“Our nation’s air is cleaner today than just a generation ago, and last night I built upon this progress by signing the strongest … air quality standards for lead in our nation’s history. These levels reduce allowable levels of lead exposure by ten times,” said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Stephen Johnson. “When my children were young, EPA protected them by phasing out lead in … gasoline, and thanks to this standard EPA will protect my grandchildren from remaining sources of lead.”
The EPA has a long history of giving in to lobbyists’ requests at the expense of public health, and given that its main responsibility is to protect us and the environment, we hardly feel that we owe them any thanks for actually doing their job. While toughening the lead pollution limits is extremely important, considering all of the other things they’ve failed to do, the most we can muster is a bored, toneless “whoopee”. Now get back to work, EPA!
Link [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
