Regulation and monitoring of pollution: Difference between revisions

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To protect the [[environment (biophysical)|environment]] from the adverse effects of pollution, many nations worldwide have enacted legislation to regulate various types of pollution as well as to mitigate the adverse effects of [[pollution]]. At the local level, regulation usually is supervised by [[Environmental agency|environmental agencies]] or the broader [[public health system]]. Jurisdictions often have different levels [[Environmental law|regulation and policy choices]] about pollution. Historically, polluters will lobby governments in less economically developed areas or countries to maintain lax regulation to protect [[industrialisation]] at the cost of human and [[environmental health]]. {{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

The modern environmental regulatory environment has its origins in the United States with the beginning of industrial regulations around Air and Water pollution connected to industry and mining during the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oppenheimer |first=Michael |date=2003-10-01 |title=Atmospheric Pollution: History, Science, and Regulation |url=https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.1629008 |journal=Physics Today |volume=56 |issue=10 |pages=65–66 |doi=10.1063/1.1629008 |bibcode=2003PhT....56j..65J |issn=0031-9228|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Because many pollutants have transboundary impacts, the UN and other treaty bodies have been used to regulate pollutants that circulate as [[air pollution]], [[water pollution]] or [[Global waste trade|trade in wastes]]. Early international agreements were successful at addressing Global Environmental issues, such as [[Montreal Protocol]], which banned Ozone depleting chemicals in 1987, with more recent agreements focusing on broader, more widely dispersed chemicals such as [[persistent organic pollutant]]s in the [[Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants]] created in 2001, such as [[PCBs]], and the [[Kyoto Protocol]] in 1997 which initiated collaboration on addressing greenhouse gases to [[mitigate climate change]]. Governments, [[Nonprofit organization|NPOs]], research groups, and [[Citizen science|citizen scientists]] monitor pollution with an expanding list of low-cost pollution monitoring tools.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Botero-Valencia |first1=J.S. |last2=Barrantes-Toro |first2=C. |last3=Marquez-Viloria |first3=D. |last4=Pearce |first4=Joshua M. |date=December 2023 |title=Low-cost air, noise, and light pollution measuring station with wireless communication and tinyML |journal=HardwareX |language=en |volume=16 |pages=e00477 |doi=10.1016/j.ohx.2023.e00477|pmid=37822753 |pmc=10562912 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Idrees |first1=Zeba |last2=Zheng |first2=Lirong |date=2020-03-01 |title=Low cost air pollution monitoring systems: A review of protocols and enabling technologies |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452414X19300792 |journal=Journal of Industrial Information Integration |volume=17 |pages=100123 |doi=10.1016/j.jii.2019.100123 |issn=2452-414X|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Regulation and monitoring by region==

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====Noise pollution====

{{see also|noise pollution}}

Passage of the [[Noise Control Act]] in 1972 established mechanisms of setting emission standards for virtually every source of noise including motor vehicles, aircraft, certain types of [[HVAC]] equipment and major appliances. It also put local government on notice as to their responsibilities in land use planning to address noise mitigation. This [[noise regulation]] framework comprised a broad database detailing the extent of [[noise health effects]]. Congress ended the funding of the federal noise control program in 1981, which curtailed the development of further national regulations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.epa.gov/clean-air-act-overview/clean-air-act-title-iv-noise-pollution |title=Clean Air Act Title IV - Noise Pollution |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2025-02-13 |website=Clean Air Act Overview |publisher=EPA}}</ref>

==== Light pollution ====

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==== Research ====

The Toxicology and Environmental Health Information Program (TEHIP)<ref>{{cite web |date=2010-08-12 |title=SIS.nlm.nih.gov |url=http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901172235/https://sis.nlm.nih.gov/enviro.html |archive-date=2018-09-01 |access-date=2010-08-26 |publisher=SIS.nlm.nih.gov}}</ref> at the [[United States National Library of Medicine]] (NLM) maintains a comprehensive toxicology and environmental health web site that includes access to resources produced by TEHIP and by other government agencies and organizations. This website includes links to databases, bibliographies, tutorials, and other scientific and consumer-oriented resources. TEHIP is also responsible for the Toxicology Data Network (TOXNET),<ref>{{cite web |title=Toxnet.nlm.nih.gov |url=http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981206103141/http://www.toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 6, 1998 |access-date=2010-08-26 |publisher=Toxnet.nlm.nih.gov}}</ref> an integrated system of toxicology and environmental health databases that are available free of charge on the web.

[[TOXMAP]] is a Geographic Information System (GIS) that is part of TOXNET. TOXMAP uses maps of the United States to help users visually explore data from the EPA [[Toxics Release Inventory]] and [[Superfund Basic Research Program|Superfund Basic Research Programs]].