Air Contaminants

Frozen in 1971: The Data Behind OSHA's Outdated Exposure Limits

An original analysis of OSHA's permissible exposure limits — fewer than 500 chemicals have one, most carry a number a committee chose in 1968, and a 1989 attempt to modernize 376 of them was struck down in court. Why 'meeting the PEL' is the legal floor, not a safe ceiling.