An Illustrative Analysis of Ambient Carbon Monoxide Standards

This paper demonstrates the use of decision analysis for setting primary national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), given the legal, policy and resource constraints of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). An application of decision analysis for evaluating primary carbon monoxide ambient air quality standards is described. The analysis incorporates human activity patterns, ambient pollutant concentrations, physiological effects given concentrations, and dose-response functions to indicate adverse health effects of alternative ambient standards. Uncertainties are explicitly handled. Health consequences and their relative undesirability are determined for the alternative carbon monoxide standards, and sensitivity analyses examine effects of different data or value judgments.