The objective of this study was to characterize the emissions of air pollutants from mosquito coils and candles burning in a large environmental test chamber. The target pollutants included particulate matters (PM10, PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), methane (CH4), non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbonyl compounds. The average PM10 conc...

Human and animal toxicology has had a profound impact on our historical and current understanding of air pollution health effects. Early animal toxicological studies of air pollution had distinctively military or workplace themes. With the discovery that ambient air pollution episodes led to excess illness and death, there became an emergence of toxicological studies that focused on industrial ...

BACKGROUND Numerous studies have linked criteria air pollutants with adverse birth outcomes, but there is less information on the importance of specific emission sources, such as traffic, and air toxics. OBJECTIVES We used three exposure data sources to examine odds of term low birth weight (LBW) in Los Angeles, California, women when exposed to high levels of traffic-related air pollutants d...

Two commonly used models to assess air pollution concentration for investigating health effects of air pollution in epidemiological studies are Land Use Regression (LUR) models and Dispersion and Chemistry Transport Models (DCTM). Both modeling approaches have been applied in the Ruhr area, Germany, a location where multiple cohort studies are being conducted. Application of these different mod...

Traffic-related air pollution is recognized as an important contributor to health problems. Epidemiologic analyses suggest that prenatal exposure to traffic-related air pollutants may be associated with adverse birth outcomes; however, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that the relation is causal. The Study of Air Pollution, Genetics and Early Life Events comprises all births to women ...

Exposures to air pollutants may offset a portion of the health benefits of walking and bicycling in cities. However, taking a detour just a block or two away from the busiest streets and roads “can make a big difference in your exposure,” says Steve Hankey, an assistant professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and coauthor of a new study in EHP. For every street block in...

OBJECTIVES The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is working toward gaining a better understanding of the human health impacts of exposure to complex air pollutant mixtures and the key features that drive the toxicity of these mixtures, which can then be used for future scientific and risk assessments. DATA SOURCES A public workshop was held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 22-24 February 20...

Concentrations of outdoor air pollution are on the rise, particularly due to rapid urbanization worldwide. Alternatively, poor ventilation, cigarette smoke, and other toxic chemicals contribute to rising concentrations of indoor air pollution. The World Health Organization recently reported that deaths attributable to indoor and outdoor air pollutant exposure are more than double what was origi...

OBJECTIVE Air pollution contains many toxicants known to affect neurological function and to have effects on the fetus in utero. Recent studies have reported associations between perinatal exposure to air pollutants and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children. We tested the hypothesis that perinatal exposure to air pollutants is associated with ASD, focusing on pollutants associated with ASD...

The air we breathe is composed of lots of different chemical components. Some of these components are pollutants that are harmful to human health. Air pollutants come from a variety of different sources, including power plants, factories, agriculture, and transportation. Transportation vehicles are powered by combustion of fossil fuels, such as gasoline or diesel, to move from one place to anot...