Impact/Purpose:

Air toxics comprise a large and diverse group of air pollutants that, with sufficient exposure, are known or suspected to cause adverse effects on human health. The Clean Air Act requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to characterize, prioritize, and address the effects of air toxics on public health and the environment.

Although ambient concentrations of some of these air toxics have been monitored by state or local agencies in some areas, the characterization of personal exposures to air toxics has been limited. And although ambient concentrations are generally low, so-called hot spots might exist where concentrations of one or more air toxics, and consequent exposures of area populations, could be elevated. In 2003, HEI targeted research to identify and characterize potential air toxics hot spots, with the aim of conducting future health studies in these locations.

Air toxics comprise a large and diverse group of air pollutants that, with sufficient exposure, are known or suspected to cause adverse effects on human health. The Clean Air Act requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to characterize, prioritize, and address the effects of air toxics on public health and the environment.

Although ambient concentrations of some of these air toxics have been monitored by state or local agencies in some areas, the characterization of personal exposures to air toxics has been limited. And although ambient concentrations are generally low, so-called hot spots might exist where concentrations of one or more air toxics, and consequent exposures of area populations, could be elevated. In 2003, HEI targeted research to identify and characterize potential air toxics hot spots, with the aim of conducting future health studies in these locations.

Description:

The investigators reported that one of the neighborhoods, Waterfront South, had consistently higher ambient concentrations than the other, Copewood–Davis, of PM2.5, toluene, xylenes, and PAHs. Thus, by the investigators’ original definition of a hot spot (i.e., having elevated concentrations compared with those of a nearby control, or comparison, area with fewer industrial sites), Waterfront South could be considered a hot spot for these pollutants. However, ambient concentrations in Copewood–Davis of several other pollutants — benzene, MTBE, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, hexane, and acetaldehyde — were as high as or higher than those in Waterfront South. The Committee generally considered the measurements of the air pollutants to have been accurate and reliable. However, they were concerned about the validity of the absolute concentrations of benzene, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde, because they were much higher than those reported in other studies, and there appeared to be some specific problems with the measurement method for formaldehyde.

In summary, the current study provided valuable information about ambient and personal concentrations of PM2.5 and a large number of air toxics and demonstrated elevated ambient concentrations (compared with other areas in New Jersey and across the United States) of some air toxics in both of these lower-socioeconomic-status neighborhoods. At the same time, the findings illustrate the difficulties of defining an area a priori as a potential hot spot — or as a control location. The design of future exposure and health effects studies in hot spots will need to take multiple pollutant sources and meteorologic factors into consideration to achieve sufficient contrasts in pollutant concentrations between appropriately chosen hot spots and background locations

Record Details:

Record Type:PROJECT( ABSTRACT )

Start Date:04/01/2010

Completion Date:03/31/2015

Record ID: 258329

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Related Organizations:

Role :OWNER

Organization Name :ENVIRONMENTAL AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH SCIENCES INSTITUTE

Organization Name :HEI2010

Mailing Address :170 Frelinghuysen Road

Citation :Piscataway

State :NJ

Zip Code :8854



Role :OWNER

Organization Name :HEALTH EFFECTS INSTITUTE

Organization Name :HEI2010

Mailing Address :Charlestown Navy Yard, 120 Second Avenue

Citation :Boston

State :MA

Zip Code :2129

Project Information:

Approach :

Dr. Paul J. Lioy of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute of Piscataway, New Jersey, and colleagues evaluated ambient and personal exposures to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and several air toxics in 107 nonsmoking residents of two neighborhoods in Camden, New Jersey. Residents of both neighborhoods were predominantly low-income. The investigators hypothesized that one neighborhood, Waterfront South, was an air toxics hot spot, defined as having elevated concentrations of air toxics compared with those of a nearby area. Waterfront South has numerous industrial sites serviced by heavy truck traffic and is close to major roads; its residents were thus likely to be exposed to air toxics from multiple sources. The other neighborhood, Copewood–Davis, was selected as the control, or comparison, site for thepollutant measurements. It was near Waterfront South and had no industrial sites.

Between June 2004 and July 2006 the investigators collected four sets of 24-hour personal air samples from the study subjects and made simultaneous measurements of ambient pollutant concentrations at a fixed monitoring site in each neighborhood. To assess how pollutant concentrations varied by season, they collected personal and ambient samples in summer and in winter. To assess how mobile sources (particularly truck traffic) contributed to pollutant concentrations, they collected personal and ambient samples on weekdays and weekend days (anticipating that concentrations would be higher on weekdays). To assess finer spatial variability in air toxics concentrations, they also conducted a saturation-sampling substudy in which pollutant measurements were made at 38 monitoring sites in the two neighborhoods. Lioy and colleagues measured concentrations of multiple air toxics, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (especially benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m- & p-xylenes, o-xylenes, methyl tert-butyl e

Cost :$.00

Research Component :Air Quality and Air Toxics

Approach :

Dr. Paul J. Lioy of the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute of Piscataway, New Jersey, and colleagues evaluated ambient and personal exposures to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and several air toxics in 107 nonsmoking residents of two neighborhoods in Camden, New Jersey. Residents of both neighborhoods were predominantly low-income. The investigators hypothesized that one neighborhood, Waterfront South, was an air toxics hot spot, defined as having elevated concentrations of air toxics compared with those of a nearby area. Waterfront South has numerous industrial sites serviced by heavy truck traffic and is close to major roads; its residents were thus likely to be exposed to air toxics from multiple sources. The other neighborhood, Copewood–Davis, was selected as the control, or comparison, site for thepollutant measurements. It was near Waterfront South and had no industrial sites.

Between June 2004 and July 2006 the investigators collected four sets of 24-hour personal air samples from the study subjects and made simultaneous measurements of ambient pollutant concentrations at a fixed monitoring site in each neighborhood. To assess how pollutant concentrations varied by season, they collected personal and ambient samples in summer and in winter. To assess how mobile sources (particularly truck traffic) contributed to pollutant concentrations, they collected personal and ambient samples on weekdays and weekend days (anticipating that concentrations would be higher on weekdays). To assess finer spatial variability in air toxics concentrations, they also conducted a saturation-sampling substudy in which pollutant measurements were made at 38 monitoring sites in the two neighborhoods. Lioy and colleagues measured concentrations of multiple air toxics, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (especially benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m- & p-xylenes, o-xylenes, methyl tert-butyl e

Cost :$.00

Research Component :Health Effects