Reports

Estimating Mortality Risk Reduction and Economic Benefits from Controlling Ozone Air Pollution (2008)

Ozone, a key component of smog, can cause respiratory problems and other health effects. Evidence of a relationship between short-term exposure to ozone and mortality has been mounting, but because interpretations of the evidence have differed, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked the Research Council to analyze the ozone-mortality link and assess methods for assigning a monetary value to lives saved. The report concludes that short-term exposure to current levels of ozone in many areas contributes to premature deaths and that such deaths are more likely among individuals with pre-existing diseases and other susceptibility factors but not limited to people who are already within a few days of dying. The link is strong enough that the EPA should include ozone-related mortality in its health-benefit analyses for future ozone standards. The report also concludes that if ozone has a threshold -- a concentration of ozone below which exposure poses no risk of death--it is probably at a concentration below the current public health standard. To compare the costs and benefits of steps taken to mitigate ozone, EPA assigns a monetary value to the avoided deaths by using what is known as a value of a statistical life (VSL). However, EPA assigns the same value to all lives regardless of the age or health status of the population experiencing the change in mortality risk. The report concludes that current evidence is not sufficient to determine how EPA should shift the VSL but that such adjustments may be appropriate in the future. The committee that wrote the report was not asked to consider how evidence is used by EPA to set ozone standards, including the new public health standard set by the agency last month.
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