Most of us come into contact with pollutants on a daily basis at levels that are much higher than if we were living next to or on a Superfund site. Indeed, the contribution from Superfund sites and hazardous waste dumps to Americans' actual exposure appears to be negligible or even nonexistent. Most of these environmental laws are based on older science, before these scientific exposure findings were known and understood. Indeed, these new large-scale population exposure studies in the U.S. have never found any pollutant exposures that could be traced to Superfund sites, and it appears now that many of the health concerns on which these laws were based are mythical rather than real. By contrast, other sources that are really important for protecting public health are not being considered by these laws.
Similar problems arise with sections of the Clean Air Act dealing with outdoor toxic air pollutants.
When studies compared the actual exposures of people living less than 0.6 miles from factories with those of people living further away, no difference could be found because the factories' contribution proved to be minuscule compared to ordinary indoor sources. Despite the ineffectiveness of a fireplace in heating a home, only a few hours of wood burning in a single home at night can raise fine particle concentrations in dozens of surrounding homes throughout the neighborhood and cause PAH concentrations higher than 2,000 nanograms per cubic meter. The far-reaching implications of these scientific discoveries for environmental laws has not yet sunk into the Nation's consciousness. In effect, we have been looking for pollution in all the wrong places. Indeed, ignoring indoor air pollution and human exposure, as the nation is doing under its current environmental laws, is a tragic disregard of our children's health and the well-being of future generations.