Composition of and Exposure to Pm25 While Commuting in the Metro and on the Street

For more than twenty years, special efforts have been made in Europe aiming the reduction of adverseimpacts of atmospheric pollutants. These efforts led to a reduction of risks and effects, but air pollutionin Europe is still a matter of concern, mainly related with impacts on the human health and on theenvironment. These impacts were considered as environment and health priorities in Europe Union(EU), the main issues related with impact on human health being the exposure to (i) troposphericozone, and (ii) particles, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, carbon monoxide, lead and benzene, mainlyin urban areas. Considering the Air Quality Guidelines defined by the World Health Organization in2000, and aiming the protection of human health, new air quality objectives for air pollutantconcentrations have been set in EU, through the following Directives: 92/72/EEC; 96/62/EC; 99/30/EC(sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, particles and lead); 2000/69/EC (carbon monoxide and benzene);and 2002/3/EC (ozone). Standard values for heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons areyet going to be settled. The European Directives must be transposed to the internal laws of all memberstates. In Portugal just ozone Directive was not yet transposed, but in fact, till 2005 or 2010, theprevious legislation is going to be applied. For most pollutants the European Directives settled muchmore restrictive limits, therefore, the analysis of the air quality in a defined region can lead tocompletely different conclusions, depending on the legislation considered.This study analysis the air quality in Oporto Metropolitan Area (Oporto-MA), according to theprevious legislation yet in application, as well as according to the new European Directives, aiming toevaluate the necessity of implementation of the new European Directives. Special attention was givento the necessity of reducing pollutant concentrations, mainly of those that were more drasticallyreduced in European Directives. The incidence of asthmatic symptoms in children was selected asindicator.Three sites were selected for this study: (i) Site I (SI), mainly and directly influenced by emissionsof the oil refinery; (ii) Site II(SII), considered with background behaviour for atmospheric pollution inOporto-MA, and with a suburban localization; and (iii) Site III (SIII), without significant influences ofanthropogenic emissions of atmospheric pollutants, and with a clearly rural localization. Theconcentrations of particles (PM10) and SO2 (from 1999 to 2001) were measured and analysed in SI andSII, considering that the main emissions influencing the air quality of those sites increase PM10 and SO2concentrations.Aiming to evaluate the real necessity of reducing pollutant concentrations, the incidence ofasthmatic symptoms in children living in the area of each site was assessed. Primary or secondaryschools located near the monitoring sites were selected to carry out the study. Written questionnairessimilar to those used for the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in childhood were distributed,to the children which participation was allowed.The results obtained seem to show that, for the worsening of asthma symptoms, PM10 are moreimportant than SO2. The results also seem to show that the exigencies of the 2 phase of theapplication of European Directives for PM10 can be exaggerated. More studies should be carried out toconfirm these hypotheses, but one conclusion is safe: the concentrations allowed in the previouslegislation must be reduced to protect public health. IMPACT OF IRON AND STEEL INDUSTRY AND WASTE INCINERATORS ON HUMANEXPOSURE TO DIOXINS, PCBS AND HEAVY METALS: RESULTS OF A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY IN BELGIUM Sébastien Fierens, Hélène Mairesse, Jean-François Focant, Gauthier Eppe, Edwin De Pauw andAlfred Bernard School of Public Health, Université catholique de Louvain, Clos Chapelle-aux-Champs 30-54 B-1200Brussels, Belgium.Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Université de Liège, Allée de la Chimie 3 – B6c, Sart-Tilman – B-4000 Liège, Belgium. We evaluated the human exposure impact of two municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWI) and twosinter plants in Wallonia (Belgium). A total of 142 volunteers living around these facilities wererecruited. Fifty-one subjects aged 21 to 80 years were living within a distance of 2 km from a MSWI ina rural area (Thumaide). Thirty-three subjects aged 33 to 65 years were recruited within a distance of 2km from a MSWI in an industrial area (Pont-de-Loup). Fifty-eight subjects aged 25 to 67 years wereliving within a distance of 4 km from two iron and steel plants in the suburb of two industrial cities(Liège, n=12 and Charleroi, n=46). These subjects were compared with 63 controls from an unpollutedarea in the Ardenne (Belgium). The volunteers provided approximately 200 ml of fasting blood and anurine sample. We quantified serum concentrations of dioxins (17 PCDD/Fs congeners), coplanar PCBs(IUPAC n° 77, 81, 126 and 169) and 12 PCB markers (IUPAC n° 3, 8, 28, 52, 101, 118, 138, 153, 180,194, 206 and 209). We also measured three heavy metals in urine (cadmium and mercury) or blood(lead) of these subjects. After adjustment for confounding factors (age, sex, body mass index, tobaccoconsumption or alcohol consumption) the mean cadmium, mercury and lead concentrations of exposedsubjects were not significantly increased in comparison with controls. The mean cadmium, mercuryand lead concentrations of the total population (n=205) are 0.55 μg/g creatinine, 2.1 μg/g creatinine and33.9 μg/l, respectively. By contrast, whilst no increase was found in residents around the MSWI in theindustrial area or the sinter plants, subjects living around the MSWI in the rural area had on averagesignificantly higher serum levels of dioxins (38 vs 24 pg TEQ/g fat) and coplanar PCBs (10 vs 7 pgTEQ/g fat) than controls. A two-way ANOVA on age-adjusted dioxin levels revealed a significantinteraction between residence around incinerators and the consumption of fat from local origin,especially from bovine and poultry products. Whereas age-adjusted dioxin levels in controls did notvary with local animal fat consumption, concentrations of dioxins in subjects living around theincinerators increased proportionally to their intake of local animal fat, with almost a doubling insubjects with the highest fat intake. These results show that exposure to emissions from MSWIs canincrease dioxin and coplanar PCB body burden of residents. This increase is however dependent of theconsumption of products from the local food chain and is likely to occur only when dioxin emissionsexceed 5 ngTEQ/Nm, a threshold largely above emissions standards currently in force in mostcountries (between 0.1 and 1 ng TEQ/Nm). HEALTH IMPACTS OF OZONE LEVELS IN SWEDEN – A NATIONAL ASSESSMENT Forsberg B*, Modig L*, Svanberg P-A#, Segerstedt B*, Falck E‡. * Dept of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden# Pasela miljösupport, Gothenburg, Sweden‡ National Public Health Institute, Stockholm, Sweden One of the national environmental goals in Sweden is “Fresh air”, meaning air that doesn’t damagehealth, nature or buildings. The Swedish Public Health Institute initiated this nation-wide study toassess the health impacts of current ozone levels. The Swedish population (approx. 8.7 mil) was divided into 29 sub populations for which time-series ofdaily maximum 8-hour averages during year 2000 have been estimated. For seven large cities weobtained data from municipal urban background measurements. For the rest of the country weestimated the levels from the most representative of six Swedish EMEP-stations (rural), assigningreduced levels to urban areas to account for the effect of local NO emissions. These adjustments tohave urban levels were done on an hourly basis, separately for winter, spring, summer and autumn, anddivided into three geographical zones based on empiric studies of relations. In this way 22 series ofestimated ozone data were obtained from EMEP-data. Population data were collected from Statistics Sweden, separately for urban and rural populations.Baseline data (2000) on all cause mortality and respiratory hospital admissions at county level wereobtained from registers kept by The National Board of Health and Welfare. Population exposure and baseline data were combined with short-term exposure-response coefficientsby using the AirQ, an air quality health impact assessment tool developed by WHO/ECEH. Swedishresults indicate year round effects of ozone and fairly linear associations from low concentrations, whythe analysis not was restricted to assume effects of high concentrations and during the summer only. Asexposure-response coefficients we used a change of 0,4 % and 0,7 % in all cause mortality andrespiratory admissions, respectively, per 10 μg/m3 increase in the maximum 8-hour concentration. The health impact assessment was done using different scenarios, i.e. no values above 60 or 80 μg/m3.Health impacts were calculated with a no-threshold calculation on a daily basis. In total it is calculatedthat more than 1000 deaths per year are brought forward due to ozone levels above 60 μg/m3.Approximately 2000 respiratory hospital admissions per year are estimated due to ozone levels above60 μg/m3. Ozone is obviously a major air pollution problem in large parts of Sweden, resulting inincreased mortality and morbidity. However, the ozone levels in this northern part of Europe aremainly determined by the incoming air masses, and local control measures have limited effects. PREDICTED HEALTH IMPACTS OF CONGESTION PRICING IN STOCKHOLM – ALOCAL ASSESSMENT Forsberg B*, Johansson C#, Segerstedt B*, L Burman# * Dept of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden# Environment and Health Protection Admininstration of Stockholm" Traffic congestion leads to substantial waste of time, extra fuel combusted, polluted air and negativehealth effects. This leads to extra costs for society and businesses. Using price to allocate space oncongested roads involves charging relatively higher prices for travel during periods of peak hours thanin other periods. Travellers are thereby encouraged to choose alternative routes or modes or travel atother times of the day. The introduction of such a system is planned in Stockholm, and we haveestimated the effects on air pollution levels and health. Traffic models, a dynamic emission database and an air quality dispersion model have been used tocalculate the effect on air pollutant levels in the centre of Stockholm of a system for congestion pricing.The exposure calculations have included effects on NO2, PM10 and other indicators. A scenariowithout the road pricing system has been used as reference. Air pollutant concentrations have been combined with spatial distribution of the population (100 by100 metre resolution for the inner city area) to obtain population weighted means and extreme values.The modelled exposure reductions have been combined with reported exposure-response functions andlocal base-line frequencies to quantify health benefits expected from the pricing system. For approximately 330000 inner-city residents it is estimated that the reduction in long-term exposurecorresponds to 47 deaths that could be prevented annually based on NO2 as exposure indicator (Dutchstudy by Hoek et al). If instead PM10 is used as indicator (US coefficients as used by APHEIS) thereduction is estimated to 17 deaths per year. In both cases the annual population weighted mean wasestimated to be reduced by 1.2 μg/m3. Many factors cause additional uncertainties, but we see itnecessary to develop this kind of assessments. Broader definitions of affected populations and otherendpoints are also presented and discussed. IN VITRO AND IN VIVO TOXICITY POTENCY OF AMBIENT PM SAMPLED ACROSSEUROPE AND THE INFLUENCE OF TRAFFIC EXHAUST EMISSIONS – A HYBRIDTOXICOLOGICAL-EPIDEMIOLOGICAL APPROACH Miriam EGerlofs-Nijland, John F Boere, Daan LAC Leseman, Ken Donaldson, Ian Mudway,Cecilia Gustadisegni Henk J.T Bloemen, Leendert van Bree and Flemming R Cassee.1) National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, Netherlands.2) Respiratory Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK3) Cardiovascular Research Kings College, London St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK4) Laboratory of Ultrastructures Istituto Superiore di Sanità Viale, Roma, Italy Ambient particulate matter (PM) may be responsible for serious respiratory and cardiovascular healtheffects or even premature mortality especially among susceptible sub-populations. Uncertainties abouthealth effect-relevant PM characteristics and components and their respective sources seriouslycomplicate the process of PM health risk assessment and standard settings as well as the application ofcost-effective emission and risk control measures. To assess the inflammatory and toxicologicalpotential of ambient suspended particles collected at places across Europe with contrasts in trafficintensity and to link these properties with chemical composition data on the one hand andepidemiological health observations on the other hand, PM samples (PM2.5 and PM10-2.5 collectedseparately) from the EU HEPMEAP project were tested in a series of in vitro experiments. The potencyof these PM samples were ranked based on ascorbate depletion, arachidonic acid release, IL-6, andDNA damage. Furthermore the site selection (i.e. traffic contribution) and chemical characterisation were taken into account. The PM samples were ranked for hopanes/steranes/V/B(α)P as well asNi/Cu/Zn with regard to traffic contribution and high temperature burning processes.Subsequently, the most interesting samples were selected for an in vivo study based on the followingcriteria (4 categories):1) Most reactive in both fractions (fine and coarse)2) Least reactive in both fractions (fine and coarse)3) Greatest contrast between fractions with fine fraction most reactive4) Greatest contrast between fractions with coarse fraction most reactiveSpontaneous hypertensive rats received a single PM dose by intratracheal instillation (3 or 10 mgPM/kg body weight) of the selected coarse and fine PM samples. Exposure-related effects wereinvestigated using lung histopathology (pathological changes, cell proliferation) and bronchoalveolarlavage fluid (BAL) and blood analysis (cytokines, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alkaline phosphatase(ALP), protein, cell differentials, endothelins, fibrinogen, Clara cell protein). Detailed results of the invitro studies, the chemical composition analyses and the potency raking will be presented, togetherwith the results from the in vivo animal study. This research has been performed within the framework of the European project entitled ‘Health effectsfrom motor engine exhaust and ambient air pollution (HEPMEAP; QLK4-1999-01582)’ HEALTH IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF EXPOSURES TO PM10 IN THE CITY OF CAEN,FRANCE. Philippe GlorennecEcole Nationale de la Santé PubliqueDepartement Evaluation et GEstion des Risques liés à l'Environnement et ausystème de SoinsAvenue du Pr Léon Bernard 35043 RENNES Cedex, FranceTel : 02 99 02 26 80 Fax : 02 99 02 26 75Mel : [email protected] The aim of this work is to assess the public health impact of both short and long exposures to outdoorair pollution in the city of Caen, France.The standard World Health Organisation (WHO) methodology for an Health Impact Assessment (HIA)was used to calculate the attributable deaths, hospital admissions, and morbidity. Population exposureis estimated from PM10 (Particulate Matter <10 μm) concentrations collected by air qualitymeasurement network. The relative risks are modelled by the exposure-risk functions established inepidemiologic studies carried out in the general population : time-series studies for short exposureseffects, cohort studies for long exposures effects.The following findings will be presented at the conference :attributable number of cases linked with the current levels of outdoor pollution attributable number of cases avoidable by diminution of the annual mean of outdoor pollutionlevels of PM10 attributable number of cases avoidable by compliance to the European Union 2005 and 2010 limitvalues. Discussion will focus on variability and uncertainty of the results, interpretation of these findings, andon health effectiveness of different risk-reduction strategies.