Claim: Although it has some very important and beneficial effects, CO2 meets the legal and encyclopedic definitions of a "pollutant", and human CO2 emissions pose a threat to public health and welfare.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: On April 17, 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally announced that it had found that greenhouse gas (GHG) poses a threat to public health and the environment (EPA 2009a).

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: Although the natural absorption of CO 2 by the world's oceans helps mitigate the climatic effects of anthropogenic emissions of CO 2, it is believed that the resulting decrease in pH will have negative consequences, primarily for oceanic calcifying organisms.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: It is anticipated that continuing changes to the climate will have serious negative impacts on public, animal and ecosystem health due to extreme weather events, changing disease transmission dynamics, emerging and re-emerging diseases, and alterations to habitat and ecological systems that are essential to wildlife conservation.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: American Public Health Association Policy Statement Addressing the Urgent Threat of Global Climate Change to Public Health and the Environment, 2007, archived from the original on 2009-12-31 "The long-term threat of global climate change to global health is extremely serious and the fourth IPCC report and other scientific literature demonstrate convincingly that anthropogenic GHG emissions are primarily responsible for this threat….US policy makers should immediately take necessary steps to reduce US emissions of GHGs, including carbon dioxide, to avert dangerous climate change."

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: Pollutants emitted into the atmosphere by human activity include: Carbon dioxide (CO 2) – Because of its role as a greenhouse gas it has been described as "the leading pollutant" and "the worst climate pollutant".

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: An air pollutant is a material in the air that can have adverse effects on humans and the ecosystem.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: Excess greenhouse gases are a threat to our health and welfare.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: Carbon dioxide () is an important trace gas in Earth's atmosphere.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: Human impacts upon the environment, such as pollution and global warming, in turn affect human health.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: In the case of climate change, GHG emissions affect the welfare of people now and in the future, as well as affecting the natural environment (Toth "et al.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: Although not considered emission pollutants by the original California Air Resources Board (CARB) or U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) definitions, the most recent common use of the term also includes volatile organic compounds, several air toxics (most notably 1,3-Butadiene), and global pollutants such as carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: These processes also have an impact on the atmosphere from the emissions of carbon which have effect on the quality of human health and biodiversity.