This letter is confusing a benchmark with a health standard yet again. Benchmarks are used by EPA to identify sources so communities can work with industries on pollution control devices. OSHA defines health standards. Here is the OSHA whitepaper on Chromium Hexalane. For some reason, the URL isn’t show (Publication 3373 for OSHA).

Once again, like cadmium and arsenic numbers quoted before, these numbers are orders of magnitude UNDER the OSHA health standard. Dr. Beauchamp of Oregon Poison Control confirmed that you would need decades of exposure in a work environment to have probable health effect.

Does that mean do nothing? Or course not. Bullseye should install pollution control devices like a baghouse trap that would cost only about $25,000. That is what the EPA benchmarks are for — installing pollution control. The truth is that diesel exhaust is a far worse source of chromium, arsenic, and cadmium.

But the truth is that diesel exhaust is a far worse source of arsenic, cadmium, and chromium and mercury for that matter, and the health effects are worse on children and adults because of proximity and ubiquity. This cadmium scare reminds me of the arsenic scare of last year. When the health numbers were analyzed, they found a much higher incidence of lung cancer in the state with tighter regulations. When the that analysis is done here, people living in the industrial north of Portland and along major bus routes will light up the real health hotspot map. We can do far more for health by installing sensible pollution control like baghouse traps for industry and particulate filters for diesel exhaust than we can with all the media scare tactics.