The Scientific Foundation for Regulating Ozone in Ambient Air
On this page:
The Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to set National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) to protect the public health and welfare against exposures to the “criteria” air pollutants. EPA has identified six criteria pollutants, including ozone and related photochemical oxidants. Periodic assessment of the scientific literature allows the NAAQS to be reviewed and updated, when appropriate, to reflect new scientific findings and advancements in understanding about health- and welfare-related effects of air pollutant exposures. This assessment process involves integration of data from various scientific disciplines and culminates in the development of an integrated science assessment (ISA). The ISAs provide the scientific foundation for EPA decisions to retain or revise the NAAQS. This presentation will include an overview of the NAAQS and the ISA development process and a discussion of scientific evidence supporting key ISA conclusions and recent EPA regulatory decisions related to ozone.