pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Global nature of airborne particle toxicity and health effects: a focus on megacities, wildfires, dust storms and residential biomass burning - PubMed

  • ️Wed Jan 01 2020

Global nature of airborne particle toxicity and health effects: a focus on megacities, wildfires, dust storms and residential biomass burning

Frank J Kelly et al. Toxicol Res (Camb). 2020.

Abstract

Since air pollutants are difficult and expensive to control, a strong scientific underpinning to policies is needed to guide mitigation aimed at reducing the current burden on public health. Much of the evidence concerning hazard identification and risk quantification related to air pollution comes from epidemiological studies. This must be reinforced with mechanistic confirmation to infer causality. In this review we focus on data generated from four contrasting sources of particulate air pollution that result in high population exposures and thus where there remains an unmet need to protect health: urban air pollution in developing megacities, household biomass combustion, wildfires and desert dust storms. Taking each in turn, appropriate measures to protect populations will involve advocating smart cities and addressing economic and behavioural barriers to sustained adoption of clean stoves and fuels. Like all natural hazards, wildfires and dust storms are a feature of the landscape that cannot be removed. However, many efforts from emission containment (land/fire management practices), exposure avoidance and identifying susceptible populations can be taken to prepare for air pollution episodes and ensure people are out of harm's way when conditions are life-threatening. Communities residing in areas affected by unhealthy concentrations of any airborne particles will benefit from optimum communication via public awareness campaigns, designed to empower people to modify behaviour in a way that improves their health as well as the quality of the air they breathe.

Keywords: desert dust; epidemiology; household air pollution; megacities; particulate matter; toxicology; wildfires.

© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1

(A) Relative contribution of trace metals and PAHs to PM2.5-induced intracellular ROS in Beijing and Guangzhou and (B) individual chemical-resolved contributions to the metal- or PAH-shared ROS induction effects in Beijing and Guangzhou [38]. Data averaged from 14 and 11 samples for Beijing and Guangzhou, respectively. BaA, benzo(a)anthracene; BaP, benzo[a]pyrene; BbF, benzo[b]fluoranthene; BeP, benzo[e]pyrene; BghiP, benzo[g,h,i]perylene; BkF, benzo[k]fluoranthene; CHR, chrysene; DahA, dibenzene[a,h] anthracene; DBaeP, dibenzo[a,e]pyrene; DBalP, dibenzo[a,l]pyrene; FLU, fluoranthene; IcdP, indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene; PAH, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon; PYR, pyrene; ROS, reactive oxygen species. Reprinted with permission from (Jin L et al. Contributions of City-Specific Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) to Differential In Vitro Oxidative Stress and Toxicity Implications between Beijing and Guangzhou of China [38]. Environ Sci Technol 53(5):2881–2891. Copyright (2019) American Chemical Society

Figure 2
Figure 2

Comparison of airway macrophage black carbon (AMBC) results between the traditional cookstove group and the intervention cleaner cookstove group and the healthy UK controls, each dot represents a separate individuals mean AMBC (per 50 macrophages), P < 0.05 by Kruskall–Wallis and post hoc testing [56]

Figure 3
Figure 3

Effect of wildfire smoke exposure on lung volumes standardised to body weight in adolescent monkeys. **P < 0.01; ****P < 0.0001 [85]. IC, inspiratory capacity; RV, residual volume; TLC, total lung capacity; VC, vital capacity; WFS, wildfire smoke

Figure 4
Figure 4

Atmospheric dust, PAHs, NO2 and 1-NP concentrations in Beijing in March 2010. (a) Size-fractionated particle-bound 1-NP. (b) Gaseous NO2 and size-fractionated particle-bound PAHs. (c) Aeolian dust. Variation in concentration of 1-NP relative to that of benzo[k]fluoranthene (BkF) (1-NP/BkF) is also shown in (c). Variation in concentration of 1-NP relative to that of a fairly unreactive and non-volatile PAH, BkF (1-NP/BkF) is also shown in (c). Arrows indicate a heavy dust period [130]. Arrows indicate a heavy dust period. 1-NP, 1-nitropyrene; BkF, benzo[k]fluoranthene; NO2, nitrogen dioxide; PAH, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Health Effects Institute. State of Global Air 2019. Special Report. Boston, MA: Health Effects Institute 2019 .
    1. Dockery DW, Pope CA 3rd, Xu X et al. . An association between air pollution and mortality in six US cities. N Engl J Med 1993;329:1753–9. doi: 10.1056/nejm199312093292401. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Pope CA 3rd, Ezzati M, Dockery DW. Fine-particulate air pollution and life expectancy in the United States. N Engl J Med 2009;360:376–86. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa0805646. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gauderman WJ, Vora H, McConnell R et al. . Effect of exposure to traffic on lung development from 10 to 18 years of age: a cohort study. Lancet 2007;369:571–7. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(07)60037-3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Gauderman WJ, Urman R, Avol E et al. . Association of improved air quality with lung development in children. N Engl J Med 2015;372:905–13. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1414123. - DOI - PMC - PubMed