Air pollution control strategies directly limiting national health damages in the US.

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from fuel combustion significantly contributes to global and US mortality. Traditional control strategies typically reduce emissions for specific air pollutants and sectors to maintain pollutant concentrations below standards. Here we directly set national PM2.5 mortality cost reduction targets within a global human-earth system model with US state-level energy systems, in scenarios to 2050, to identify endogenously the control actions, sectors, and locations that most cost-effectively reduce PM2.5 mortality. We show that substantial health benefits can be cost-effectively achieved by electrifying sources with high primary PM2.5 emission intensities, including industrial coal, building biomass, and industrial liquids. More stringent PM2.5 reduction targets expedite the phaseout of high emission intensity sources, leading to larger declines in major pollutant emissions, but very limited co-benefits in reducing CO2 emissions. Control strategies limiting health damages achieve the greatest emission reductions in the East North Central and Middle Atlantic states.

PM2.5 Cooperative Control with Fuzzy Cost and Fuzzy Coalitions.

Haze control cost is hard to value by a crisp number because it is often affected by various factors such as regional uncertain meteorological conditions and topographical features. Furthermore, regions may be involved in different coalitions for haze control with different levels of effort. In this paper, we propose a PM2.5 cooperative control model with fuzzy cost and crisp coalitions or fuzzy coalitions based on the uncertain cross-border transmission factor. We focus on the Beijing­Tianjin­Hebei regions of China and obtain the following major findings. In the case of haze control in the Beijing­Tianjin­Hebei regions of China, local governments in the global crisp coalition can achieve their emission reduction targets with the lowest aggregated cost. However, Hebei fails to satisfy its individual rationality if there is no cost sharing. Therefore, the Hukuhara­Shapley value is used to allocate the aggregated cost among these regions so that the grand coalition is stable. However, the Beijing­Tianjin­Hebei regions cannot achieve their emission reduction targets in the global fuzzy coalition without government subsidies.

The quantitative assessment of the public excess disease burden advanced by inhalable particulate matter under different air quality standard targets in Tianjin, China.

Currently, the quantitative assessment of the public excess risk for the update of the air quality guidelines only considered the mortality and morbidity without disease burden indicators. To provide evidences for the update of air quality guidelines and the policy analysis of air control, a simple framework to identify the excess disease burden of PM10 was used in this study. Daily data on PM10, meteorological factors, and deaths were collected in this 10-year (2001-2010) time series study in Tianjin, China. The excess disease burden advanced by PM10 was assessed when the PM10 levels exceeded the expected levels. Generalized additive model was used to estimate the associations of PM10 with mortality and years of life lost (YLL). Our study found that the exposure of PM10 was associated with the increasing of mortality and YLL in different diseases. The excess deaths and YLL of different diseases advanced by PM10 when the PM10 levels exceeded the expected levels were high and showed a decreasing trend from 2001 to 2010. The annual deaths and YLL standardized per million population advanced by PM10 when the annual PM10 levels exceeded the China national ambient air quality secondary standard targets (70 µg/m3) and WHO guideline (20 µg/m3) were 126 persons, 2670 person years and 260 persons, 5449 person years, respectively. This study may provide a simple framework to identify the excess disease burden of PM and provide basic and intuitive evidences to update the air quality guidelines. Furthermore, these findings may also provide decisionmakers with intuitive quantitative information for policymaking and emphasize health considerations in air quality policy discussions.

The economic benefits of fulfilling the World Health Organization's limits for particulates: A case study in Algeciras Bay (Spain).

Algeciras Bay is an important industrial and port zone in the south of Spain whose pollution by particulate matter surpasses the threshold levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its 2005 Guide on Air Quality. This study analyses the mortality avoided and the economic benefit which would be derived from a reduction of the pollution of PM2.5 and PM10 to the levels recommended by the WHO in Algeciras Bay in the period 2005-2015. The analysis carried out shows that the industrial zones, such as Los Barrios and San Roque, are those which have greater levels of pollution and in which the relative risk is greater. The calculations for Algeciras Bay between 2000 and 2015 show 182 deaths which would be avoided if the particulate matter pollution were reduced to the levels recommended by the WHO. Likewise, the economic valuation which this impact has on health is carried out through two concepts: the cost of illness and the Value of Statistical Life (VSL). The result shows that the economic benefit that would come out with the cost of illness valuation is 5,329,110€ and from the VSL is 414,787,113€. Implications: PM2.5 has a greater concentration in industrial localities and is linked to the industrial activity. When the particulate matter pollution is reduced to the levels recommended by the WHO in an industrialised area such as Algeciras (Spain), 182 deaths which would be avoided. The result shows that the economic benefit that would come out with the cost of illness valuation is 5,329,110€ and from the value of statistical life is 414,787,113€.

Are current Chinese national ambient air quality standards on 24-hour averages for particulate matter sufficient to protect public health?

With rapid economic development and urbanization in recent decades, China has experienced the worsening of ambient air quality. For better air quality management to protect human health, Chinese government revised national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM) in 2012 (GB3095-2012). To assess the effectiveness of current NAAQS for PM on public health in Chinese population, we conducted a meta-analysis on published studies examining the mortality risk of short-term exposure to PM with aerodynamic diameters less than 10 and 2.5µm (PM10 and PM2.5) in China. The reported 24-hour concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 in studies ranged from 43.5 to 150.1µg/m3 and 37.5 to 176.7µg/m3. In the pooled excess, mortality risk estimates of short-term exposure to PM. In specific, per 10µg/m3 increase in PM10, we observed increases of 0.40% (95%CI: 0.33%, 0.47%), 0.57% (95%CI: 0.44%, 0.70%) and 0.49% (95%CI: 0.40%, 0.58%) in total, respiratory and cardiovascular mortality, per 10µg/m3 increase in PM2.5, we observed increases of 0.51% (95%CI: 0.38%, 0.63%), 0.62% (95%CI: 0.52%, 0.73%) and 0.75% (95%CI: 0.54%, 0.95%) in total, respiratory and cardiovascular mortality. Finally, we derived 125µg/m3 for PM10 and 62.5µg/m3 for PM2.5 as 24-hour recommendation values based on the pooled estimates. Our results indicated that current Chinese NAAQS for PM could be sufficient in mitigating the excess mortality risk from short-term exposure to ambient PM. However, future research on long-term exposure cohort studies in Chinese population is also essential in revising annual averages for PM in Chinese NAAQS.

Ambient air concentrations exceeded health-based standards for fine particulate matter and benzene during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

UNLABELLED: The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is considered one of the largest marine oil spills in the history of the United States. Air emissions associated with the oil spill caused concern among residents of Southeast Louisiana. The purpose of this study was to assess ambient concentrations of benzene (n=3,887) and fine particulate matter (n=102,682) during the oil spill and to evaluate potential exposure disparities in the region. Benzene and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in the targeted parishes were generally higher following the oil spill, as expected. Benzene concentrations reached 2 to 19 times higher than background, and daily exceedances of PM2.5 were 10 to 45 times higher than background. Both benzene and PM2.5 concentrations were considered high enough to exceed public health criteria, with measurable exposure disparities in the coastal areas closer to the spill and clean-up activities. These findings raise questions about public disclosure of environmental health risks associated with the oil spill. The findings also provide a science-based rationale for establishing health-based action levels in future disasters. IMPLICATIONS: Benzene and particulate matter monitoring during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill revealed that ambient air quality was a likely threat to public health and that residents in coastal Louisiana experienced significantly greater exposures than urban residents. Threshold air pollution levels established for the oil spill apparently were not used as a basis for informing the public about these potential health impacts. Also, despite carrying out the most comprehensive air monitoring ever conducted in the region, none of the agencies involved provided integrated analysis of the data or conclusive statements about public health risk. Better information about real-time risk is needed in future environmental disasters.

Consideration on the health risk reduction related to attainment of the new particulate matter standards in Poland: A top-down policy risk assessment approach.

Policies can influence health of a population in various ways. Numerous epidemiological studies supported by toxicological investigations demonstrate a positive association between ambient concentrations of airborne particulate matter and increased adverse cardio-respiratory events, including morbidity and mortality. The aim of this paper was to present the concept of the top-down health policy risk assessment approach model developed to estimate the expected health risk reduction associated with policy aiming at attaining the new particulate matter ≤ 10 µm in diameter (PM10) standards in Poland. The top-down approach guides the analysis of causal chains from the policy to health outcomes. In this case study we tried to estimate the predicted health effects of the policy change over the past 20 years. Since Polish annual standard for PM10 changed from 50 µg/m³ in 1990 to 40 µg/m³ in 2010, we calculated the relative risk associated with decreasing PM10 in diameter to 10 µg/m3 in the annual level of PM10 for 6 adverse health effects. The relative risk slightly decreased for almost all adverse health effects, which means that the relative decrease in the incidence of health effects from the baseline incidence should range from about 0.5-0.6% for heart disease admissions to > 1% for respiratory admissions. The obtained results indicate that implementation of the new ambient air standards could influence improvement of the health status of Polish population. A top-down policy health risk assessment model can be one of the main tools in this process, providing harmonized guidance how to seek evidence-based information, which could serve policy-makers.

Advances in Inhalation Dosimetry Models and Methods for Occupational Risk Assessment and Exposure Limit Derivation.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview and practical guide to occupational health professionals concerning the derivation and use of dose estimates in risk assessment for development of occupational exposure limits (OELs) for inhaled substances. Dosimetry is the study and practice of measuring or estimating the internal dose of a substance in individuals or a population. Dosimetry thus provides an essential link to understanding the relationship between an external exposure and a biological response. Use of dosimetry principles and tools can improve the accuracy of risk assessment, and reduce the uncertainty, by providing reliable estimates of the internal dose at the target tissue. This is accomplished through specific measurement data or predictive models, when available, or the use of basic dosimetry principles for broad classes of materials. Accurate dose estimation is essential not only for dose-response assessment, but also for interspecies extrapolation and for risk characterization at given exposures. Inhalation dosimetry is the focus of this paper since it is a major route of exposure in the workplace. Practical examples of dose estimation and OEL derivation are provided for inhaled gases and particulates.

Determining PM2.5 calibration curves for a low-cost particle monitor: common indoor residential aerosols.

Real-time particle monitors are essential for accurately estimating exposure to fine particles indoors. However, many such monitors tend to be prohibitively expensive for some applications, such as a tenant or homeowner curious about the quality of the air in their home. A lower cost version (the Dylos Air Quality Monitor) has recently been introduced, but it requires appropriate calibration to reflect the mass concentration units required for exposure assessment. We conducted a total of 64 experiments with a suite of instruments including a Dylos DC1100, another real-time laser photometer (TSI SidePak™ Model AM-510 Personal Aerosol Monitor), and a gravimetric sampling apparatus to estimate Dylos calibration factors for emissions from 17 different common indoor sources including cigarettes, incense, fried bacon, chicken, and hamburger. Comparison of minute-by-minute data from the Dylos with the gravimetrically calibrated SidePak yielded relationships that enable the conversion of the raw Dylos particle counts less than 2.5 µm (in #/0.01 ft(3)) to estimated PM2.5 mass concentration (e.g. µg m(-3)). The relationship between the exponentially-decaying Dylos particle counts and PM2.5 mass concentration can be described by a theoretically-derived power law with source-specific empirical parameters. A linear relationship (calibration factor) is applicable to fresh or quickly decaying emissions (i.e., before the aerosol has aged and differential decay rates introduce curvature into the relationship). The empirical parameters for the power-law relationships vary greatly both between and within source types, although linear factors appear to have lower uncertainty. The Dylos Air Quality Monitor is likely most useful for providing instantaneous feedback and context on mass particle levels in home and work situations for field-survey or personal awareness applications.

A multi-objective assessment of an air quality monitoring network using environmental, economic, and social indicators and GIS-based models.

UNLABELLED: In the United States, air pollution is primarily measured by Air Quality Monitoring Networks (AQMN). These AQMNs have multiple objectives, including characterizing pollution patterns, protecting the public health, and determining compliance with air quality standards. In 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a directive that air pollution agencies assess the performance of their AQMNs. Although various methods to design and assess AQMNs exist, here we demonstrate a geographic information system (GIS)-based approach that combines environmental, economic, and social indicators through the assessment of the ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM10) networks in Maricopa County, Arizona. The assessment was conducted in three phases: (1) to evaluate the performance of the existing networks, (2) to identify areas that would benefit from the addition of new monitoring stations, and (3) to recommend changes to the AQMN. A comprehensive set of indicators was created for evaluating differing aspects of the AQMNs' objectives, and weights were applied to emphasize important indicators. Indicators were also classified according to their sustainable development goal. Our results showed that O3 was well represented in the county with some redundancy in terms of the urban monitors. The addition of weights to the indicators only had a minimal effect on the results. For O3, urban monitors had greater social scores, while rural monitors had greater environmental scores. The results did not suggest a need for adding more O3 monitoring sites. For PM10, clustered urban monitors were redundant, and weights also had a minimal effect on the results. The clustered urban monitors had overall low scores; sites near point sources had high environmental scores. Several areas were identified as needing additional PM10 monitors. This study demonstrates the usefulness of a multi-indicator approach to assess AQMNs. Network managers and planners may use this method to assess the performance of air quality monitoring networks in urban regions. IMPLICATIONS: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a directive in 2006 that air pollution agencies assess the performance of their AQMNs; as a result, we developed a GIS-based, multi-objective assessment approach that integrates environmental, economic, and social indicators, and demonstrates its use through assessing the O3 and PM10 monitoring networks in the Phoenix metropolitan area. We exhibit a method of assessing network performance and identifying areas that would benefit from new monitoring stations; also, we demonstrate the effect of adding weights to the indicators. Our study shows that using a multi-indicator approach gave detailed assessment results for the Phoenix AQMN.

Reducing fine particulate to improve health: a health impact assessment for Taiwan.

Recently various countries have adopted the new standards for PM(2.5) (particulate matter <2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter), but Taiwan still maintains an old set of air quality guidelines for particulate matter; therefore, the authors quantified the public health impact of long-term exposure to PM(2.5) in terms of attributable number of deaths and the potential gain in life expectancy by reducing PM(2.5) annual levels to 25, 20, 15, and 10 µg/m(3). When the guideline for PM(2.5) long-term exposure was set at 25 µg/m(3), 3.3% of all-cause mortality or 4,500 deaths in 2009 could be prevented. The potential gain in life expectancy at age 30 of this reduction would increase by a range between 1 and 7 months in Taiwan. This study shows that guidelines for PM(2.5), especially for long-term exposure, should be adopted in Taiwan as soon as possible to protect public health.

Communicating air pollution-related health risks to the public: an application of the Air Quality Health Index in Shanghai, China.

The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) was originally developed in Canada. However, little is known about its validity in communicating morbidity risks. We aimed to establish the AQHI in Shanghai, China, and to compare the associations of AQHI and existing Air Pollution Index (API) with daily mortality and morbidity. We constructed the AQHI as the sum of excess total mortality associated with individual air pollutants, and then adjusted it to an arbitrary scale (0-10), according to a time-series analysis of air pollution and mortality in Shanghai from 2001 to 2008. We examined the associations of AQHI with daily mortality and morbidity, and compared these associations with API from 2005 to 2008. The coefficients of short-term associations of total mortality with particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 µm (PM(10)), PM(2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) were used in the establishment of AQHI. During 2005-2008, the AQHI showed linear non-threshold positive associations with daily mortality and morbidity. A unit increase of the PM(10)-AQHI was associated with a 0.90% [95% (confidence interval, CI), 0.43 to 1.37], 1.04% (95%CI, 0.04 to 2.04), 1.62% (95%CI, 0.39 to 2.85) and 0.51% (95%CI, 0.09 to 0.93) increase of current-day total mortality, hospital admissions, outpatient visits and emergency room visits, respectively. The PM(2.5)-AQHI showed quite similar effect estimates with the PM(10)-AQHI. In contrast, the associations for API were much weaker and generally statistically insignificant. The AQHI, compared with the existing API, provided a more effective tool to communicate the air pollution-related health risks to the public.

Public health, climate, and economic impacts of desulfurizing jet fuel.

In jurisdictions including the US and the EU ground transportation and marine fuels have recently been required to contain lower concentrations of sulfur, which has resulted in reduced atmospheric SO(x) emissions. In contrast, the maximum sulfur content of aviation fuel has remained unchanged at 3000 ppm (although sulfur levels average 600 ppm in practice). We assess the costs and benefits of a potential ultra-low sulfur (15 ppm) jet fuel standard ("ULSJ"). We estimate that global implementation of ULSJ will cost US$1-4bn per year and prevent 900-4000 air quality-related premature mortalities per year. Radiative forcing associated with reduction in atmospheric sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium loading is estimated at +3.4 mW/m(2) (equivalent to about 1/10th of the warming due to CO(2) emissions from aviation) and ULSJ increases life cycle CO(2) emissions by approximately 2%. The public health benefits are dominated by the reduction in cruise SO(x) emissions, so a key uncertainty is the atmospheric modeling of vertical transport of pollution from cruise altitudes to the ground. Comparisons of modeled and measured vertical profiles of CO, PAN, O(3), and (7)Be indicate that this uncertainty is low relative to uncertainties regarding the value of statistical life and the toxicity of fine particulate matter.

Assessment of the sources of suspended particulate matter aerosol using US EPA PMF 3.0.

The main purpose of this paper was to carry out a source apportionment of suspended particulate matter (SPM) samples using positive matrix factorization procedure. The central and local Government of Japan introduced strict emission regulations in 2002/10 and 2003/10, respectively, in curbing SPM pollution from major metropolitans. This paper also highlighted the impact of the measures taken by the central and local Government of Japan on the reduction of SPM and the contributions of sources. SPM samples were collected for 6 years starting from 1999 to 2005 at two sites, i.e., site A (urban) and site B (suburban) of Yokohama, Japan. Microwave digestion and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS) were employed to measure Mg, Al, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Ag, Cd, Cs, Ba, Pb and Bi, while water soluble ions (Na(+), NH4⁺, K(+), Ca(2+), Mg(2+), Cl(-), NO3⁻ and SO4²â» as well as carbonaceous mass (EC and OC) were analyzed using ion chromatograph and CHN analyzer, respectively. The sources identified at two sites were automobile, soil dust, marine aerosol, mixed sources, and secondarily formed aerosol. Also, source quantification was performed. Automobile and soil dust were striking contributors at site A. Automobile and soil dust of SPM aerosol might be produced from local origin at current study areas. Besides, Asian dust had an impact on high concentrations of SPM aerosol in some certain period of the year due to the outflows of East Asian emission. In contrast, secondary aerosol in the form of sulfate and ammonium as well as mixed sources (coal, long-transported Cs, and other unknown sources) were remarkable at site B. Stationary/industrial combustion has apparently more impact on the release of SPM components at site B than A. Automobile regulations in 2002 and 2003, respectively, resulted in reduction of SPM by 28% for site A and 16% for site B. There was also net reduction of automobile contribution at both sites due to the above measures being implemented.

Spatial heterogeneity of PM10 and O3 in São Paulo, Brazil, and implications for human health studies.

Developing exposure estimates is a challenging aspect of investigating the health effects of air pollution. Pollutant levels recorded at centrally located ambient air quality monitors in a community are commonly used as proxies for population exposures. However, if ample intraurban spatial variation in pollutants exists, city-wide averages of concentrations may introduce exposure misclassification. We assessed spatial heterogeneity of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter < or = 10 microm (PM10) and ozone (O3) and evaluated implications for epidemiological studies in São Paulo, Brazil, using daily (24-hr) and daytime (12-hr) averages and 1-hr daily maximums of pollutant levels recorded at the regulatory monitoring network. Monitor locations were also analyzed with respect to a socioeconomic status index developed by the municipal government. Hourly PM10 and O3 data for the Sao Paulo Municipality and Metropolitan Region (1999-2006) were used to evaluate heterogeneity by comparing distance between monitors with pollutants' correlations and coefficients of divergence (CODs). Both pollutants showed high correlations across monitoring sites (median = 0.8 for daily averages). CODs across sites averaged 0.20. Distance was a good predictor of CODs for PM10 (p < 0.01) but not O3, whereas distance was a good predictor of correlations for O3 (p < 0.01) but not PM10. High COD values and low temporal correlation indicate a spatially heterogeneous distribution of PM10. Ozone levels were highly correlated (r > or = 0.75), but high CODs suggest that averaging over O3 levels may obscure important spatial variations. Of municipal districts in the highest of five socioeconomic groups, 40% have > or = 1 monitor, whereas districts in the lowest two groups, representing half the population, have no monitors. Results suggest that there is a potential for exposure misclassification based on the available monitoring network and that spatial heterogeneity depends on pollutant metric (e.g., daily average vs. daily 1-hr maximum). A denser monitoring network or alternative exposure methods may be needed for epidemiological research. Findings demonstrate the importance of considering spatial heterogeneity and differential exposure misclassification by subpopulation.

Ambient air particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5: developments in European measurement methods and legislation.

The measure of airborne particulate matter PM10 is effectively defined for European regulatory purposes by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) standard EN 12341:1998--a gravimetric filter-based method. However, compared with the reference methods written for other pollutants, specifically to address the needs of the Air Quality Directives, EN 12341 falls short in areas such as ongoing Quality Assurance and Quality Control. Also, scientific knowledge about PM has moved on considerably since 1998, so that we now realize that implementations of variations allowed within EN 12341:1998 can lead to substantial differences in results obtained. These issues were partially addressed within the CEN standard for PM2.5, EN 14907:2005, which, for example, included tighter control of the handling of sampled filters to reduce losses of semi-volatile material. CEN Technical Committee 264 Working Group 15 is currently revising EN 12341, and has the opportunity to improve the reference method further, for example by tighter specification of the filter material, or by changing the specification for the humidity at which the filters are brought to equilibrium. Any changes must, however, be considered in the context of the regulatory implications of the standard, so that improvements in scientific quality must be balanced with the effect of a step change in reference method, and with associated costs. The paper outlines the present position of the EN 12341 revision and recent changes to EU Air Quality legislation.