Review and assessment of the effects of pollutant mixtures on vegetation - research recommendations

The Clean Air Act requires that the Environmental Protection Agency establish national ambient air quality standards for ambient air pollutants which may endanger human health and welfare. Secondary ambient air quality standards must be adequate to protect the public welfare from any known or anticipated adverse effects associated with the presence of a criteria air pollutant. To help the Agency develop data that assess the effects of pollutant mixtures on vegetation, the EPA's Corvallis Environmental Research Laboratory sponsored a workshop in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 21-22, 1983. Participants reviewed position papers to (1) summarize the information gaps and assess the significance of the problems associated with pollutant mixture exposures that affect vegetation and (2) identify and recommend activities that would help the Agency fill these research needs. The report includes both the position papers and the workshop deliberations.