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Article: Hazardous Air Pollutants
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Public Health
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refers to air polluntants that can cause serious health and environmental hazards as "hazardous air pollutants" (HAPS) or "air toxics." The 1970 Clean Air Act authorized EPA to first list HAPs for regulation and then to regulate the chemicals. As of 1990, only seven chemicals (beryllium, arsenic, mercury, asbestos, benzene, vinyl chloride, and radionuclides) had been listed and regulated by the EPA. The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendment, however, included a list of 189 HAPs selected by Congress on the basis of potential health and environmental hazards. (The HAP list can be found on the EPA web site:
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