Chile's National Environmental Commission approved on Mar. 9 a new standard for environmental quality for particulate matter of less than 2.5 microns, the size that is most harmful to human health when inhaled. Chile's National Environmental Commission approved on Mar. 9 a new standard for environmental quality for particulate matter of less than 2.5 microns, the size that is most harmful to human health when inhaled.

By 2012, the maximum acceptable limit will be 25 micrograms of this particulate matter per cubic meter of air, and will gradually be restricted to 20 in 2022 and 10 in 2032.

“This is great news, although we would have preferred that the timeline was much shorter,” Paola Vasconi, expert in air pollution for the non-government Terram Foundation, told Tierramérica.

“We hope this means that in many regions where air pollution is a big problem they can declare latent and saturated zones” and begin plans to clean up the air, she said.