Air Pollution Effects

• Effects of Air Pollution on Human Health

• Air Pollution Effects on Property

• Air Pollution Effects on Visibility

Effects

• Acute effect: immediate action on specific target organ or point of entry-occurs in industrial
accidents (1984 Bhopal tragedy in India of methyl isocyanate release from pesticide plant-2500
dead)

• Chronic effect: action due to long-term exposure, or effect appearing after a long period of
latency (air pollution control is directed mainly to it)

Latency Period

-time between exposure and appearance of effect

-e.g. World War II shipbuilders did not develop chest cancer from asbestos exposure until 20-30
years after exposure ended
•
Synergism and Antagonism

• Antagonism: impact of one substance decreased by presence of another substance; no known

examples in air pollution

• Synergism: impact of one substance is increased by presence of another substance-very important

to consider in assessing health effects in air pollution
-e.g. asbestos causes cancer, but carcinogenic effect of asbestos is many times greater in
people who smoke
-e.g. negative effect on lung functions shown by synergistic interaction of ozone with each of
the following pollutants or combinations of pollutants:
NO2; SO2, NO2/SO2; peroxyacetylnitrate (PAN); NO2/PAN; sulfuric acid aerosols

Additive effect: 2+3 = 5

Antagonistic effect: 2+3 < 5
Synergic effect: 2+3 > 5
 Air Pollution Standards (in USA)

❑ National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) promulgated

under the 1970 Clean Air Act (CAA) (last amended in 1990).

❑ Criteria pollutants
–Primary standards designed to protect human health with
an “adequate margin of safety.”
–Secondary standards are intended to prevent
environmental and property damage.
Canadian Ambient Air Quality Standards (CAAQS)
• CAAQS are developed as a key element of the Air Quality Management System to drive

improvement of air quality across Canada.

• CAAQS have been developed for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), fine

particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3).

• Ongoing reviews of the CAAQS help ensure they reflect the latest scientific information.

The CAAQS are established as air quality objectives under the Canadian Environmental

Protection Act, 1999.

https://ccme.ca/en/air-quality-report
Regulated Air
Pollutants
Dose-Response Relationship
Quantification of Health Effects

❑ It describes the change in effect on an organism caused by different levels of

exposure (or doses) to a stressor (usually a chemical). This may apply to
individuals (a small amount has no observable effect, a large amount is fatal),
or to populations (how many people are affected at different levels of
exposure).

❑ It is used to determine "safe" and "hazardous" levels and dosages for drugs,
potential pollutants, and other substances to which humans are exposed.
These conclusions are the basis for public policy.
• LD stands for "Lethal Dose". LD50 is the amount of a material, given all at
once, which causes the death of 50% (one half) of a group of test animals.

• The LD50 is one way to measure the short-term poisoning potential (acute
toxicity) of a material.

• For inhalation experiments, the concentration of the chemical in air that kills
50% of the test animals in a given time (usually four hours) is the LC50 value
(LC: Lethal Concentration).
LD vs LC:
https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/ld50.html
Threshold and no-threshold dose-response The true dose-response situation may
curves. The straight lines are an admission be that at low doses the effect is not
of ignorance; we generally do not know the truly zero but instead is too small
true shapes of these curves. for us to detect.

For many pollutants (including the 6 regulated ones), there is a threshold dosage below
which no adverse effect occurs, i.e. threshold limit value (TLV) -TLVs are established by
industrial hygiene boards
Methods to Establish Dose-Response Curve

Three methods to establish a dose-response curve for a pollutant

1) Animal studies,
2) Human exposure studies
3) Epidemiology

1) Animal studies:

Allow controlled conditions, including long-

term and inter-generational studies;

disadvantage is that results are not

necessarily transferable to humans

2) Human exposure studies:
Results are directly relevant; disadvantages-cannot test carcinogens, teratogens
(reproductive toxicity) or other life-threatening substances; generally limited to 8-hour
exposure, i.e. acute effects only, cellular and other subtle effects are not observable

Sensitive Population Groups General population ranges from vigorously hearty individuals
to those who are particularly susceptible to air pollutants.

Population Groups Sensitive to Air Pollution

Roughly half of the total population may be

especially prone to suffer health effects
from air pollution
3) Epidemiology:

• Can evaluate effects of chronic (long-term) exposure of real people;

• Epidemiologists attempt to determine what factors are associated with diseases (risk
factors), and what factors may protect people or animals against disease (protective
factors).
• Epidemiological evidence can only show that this risk factor is associated (correlated)
with a higher incidence of disease in the population exposed to that risk factor. The
higher the correlation the more certain the association, but it cannot prove the causation.
• Epidemiological studies can be divided into two basic types depending on (a) whether
the events have already happened (retrospective) or (b) whether the events may happen
in the future (prospective).
• Disadvantage is very limited control over significant variables (e.g. exposure level,
lifestyle, interaction with other toxins in environment, etc.)
The points represent study areas in (left to right) Ogden,
Salt Lake City, Keams, and Magna. The S02 Daily death rates and particle concentrations for the
concentrations are influenced by the distances from a December 1952 London pollution episode.
large copper smelter, and by prevailing wind patterns .
Retrospective Epidemiological Study

• Carried out on a population and

following their health or longevity over
time, together with the variable of
interest- i.e. air pollutant concentration

• Study by the Harvard School of Public

Health-1200 to 1600 participants in 6
cities studied for 14-16 years-studied
fine particle concentration (particles <
2.5 µm)

• The study led to a change in US

particulate standards

Ratio of death rates to that in Portage, WI, as a function of fine particle concentration.
Here P = Portage, WI; T = Topeka, KA; W = Watertown, MA; L = SI. Louis, MO; H =
Harriman, TN; and S = Steubenville, OH.
After Dockery et aI., "An Association between Air Pollution and Mortality in Six U.S. Cities,"
New England J. of Medicine, Vol. 329, pp. 1753-1 759, 1 993. Copyright ©1993
Massachusetts Medical Society, All rights reserved.
Air Pollution Standards
(ambient vs industrial)
Threshold curves for the death of
plants, foliar lesions, and metabolic
or growth effects as related to the
nitrogen dioxide concentration and
the duration of the exposure. The
concentrations shown are much
higher than the NAAQS for N02,
0.053 ppm annual average.
National Ambient Air Quality Objectives (NAAQOs)
Changes in Canadian Standard

Old Standards
New Standards

Pollutants 2015 2020

PM2.5 Annual - 10 μg/m³ 8.8 μg/m³
PM2.5 for 24-hour 30 μg/m³ 28 μg/m³ 27 μg/m³
Ozone for 8-hour 65 parts per billion 63 parts per billion 62 parts per billion
 Carbon Monoxide

Most abundant air pollutant • Colorless and odorless

• Produced by incomplete combustion • When inhaled, binds to hemoglobin in blood

–insufficient O2 to form carboxyhemoglobin, reducing the

–low temperature oxygen carrying capacity

–short residence time • Brain function reduced, heart rate increased

–poor mixing at lower levels

• Major source (~ 77%) is motor vehicle exhaust • Asphyxiation occurs at higher levels
Carbon monoxide health effects
Typical Levels

–busy roadways: 5 – 50 ppm

–congested highways: up to 100 ppm
–bars: up to 30 ppm

Vehicle emission rates

Carbon Monoxide: Trends in Levels

❑ Air quality still an issue:

❑ Increasing vehicle population
❑ Increasing travel per vehicle
• 1980: average 9,500 miles/year
• 1995: average 11,800 miles/yr
• Vehicle miles of travel: Increase of 3.1%/ yr
Departures from Federal standards
❑ Greater use of light trucks (including SUVs)