WASHINGTON (03/27/06) -- The U.S. EPA has announced that it will review the current air quality standard for ozone to determine if it needs to be revised. The Clean Air Act requires EPA to periodically review the scientific basis for National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for six major pollutants, including ozone, to determine whether the standards sufficiently protect public health and the environment.

The "Air Quality Criteria for Ozone and Related Photochemical Oxidants," document provides scientific bases for EPA's periodic review of the current air quality standards for ozone.

This final Ozone Air Quality Criteria Document (AQCD) is a revision of the EPA Ozone AQCD published in 1996. The document evaluates the scientific peer-reviewed literature that has been generated since the current ozone NAAQS was set in 1997, and integrates the new findings with previously available studies. The publication of important new research is one part of the public process to review air quality standards.

As a result of the 1997 review, EPA took strong action to improve air quality by implementing an eight-hour ozone standard, which is significantly more protective of human health than the previous one-hour standard. By monitoring over an eight-hour period and tightening the standard from .12 to .08 parts-per-million (ppm), citizens are protected against health effects from longer exposure periods.

EPA is scheduled to propose whether to retain or revise the current national ozone standards in March 2007, and to issue a final decision by December 2007.

The Ozone AQCD is available online.