A government panel of air-pollution experts is pressing the EPA to accelerate its research into possible health problems caused by particulate pollution, despite a federal court ruling this spring that cast doubt on the agency’s power to regulate the tiny soot particles. The panel, assembled by the National Research Council, said that disrupting research into particulates, which have been shown to aggravate asthma and other respiratory tract illnesses, could be costly to the nation in public health and economic terms. Congress has been supportive of the EPA’s particulate research, increasing funding for it this year to $47.3 million from $25.4 million.
