Sulphur oxide standards

Abstract

The basic law on measures regarding public nuisances in Japan was enacted in March 1967. In this act, public nuisance included air pollution, water contamination, noise, vibration, offensive odors and ground subsidence. According to this act, the government is obligated to establish environmental standards with regard to air pollution, water contamination and noise. The standard for Sulphur Oxides was established by the government in 1969. Standards and procedures leading to establishment of this standard were examined by the author and found unsatisfactory for the protection of the people's health. The reasons can be stated as follows:1. Initially, the technical committee on Environmental Standards submitted recommendations on threshold values of sulphur concentration index.0.05ppm for one hour value averaged 24 hours.0.1ppm for one hour value (One hour value means the average concentration of each sample made hourly by sampling of the air).These threshold values were derived from the epidemiological research and were determined to be the minimum requirement for the protection of the people's health.2. The committee of Living Environment, that is the advisory committee of the Welfare Minister, established the Standard for Sulphur Oxides. This was done under the pressure of private enterprises and this standard was found to be inconsistent with the recommendations.3. The author et al found that the limiting values of the Standard expressed by percentile were discrepant after being statistically researched on the data of Osaka and Amagasaki cities.4. It is the author's suggestion that scientific circles shall establish criterion and standards for each kind of pollution independently of governmental authorities.