THE INFLUENCE OF SOURCE AND CHEMISTRY ON THE TOXICITY OF AMBIENT PARTICULATE MATTER
Citation:
Gilmour, Ian. THE INFLUENCE OF SOURCE AND CHEMISTRY ON THE TOXICITY OF AMBIENT PARTICULATE MATTER. Inhaled particles XII, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, September 25 - 27, 2017.
Impact/Purpose:
The talk will describe contemporary methods at EPA to identify components and sources of particulate matter that are thought to cause adverse health impacts.
Description:
Air pollution has long been associated with detrimental health risks in susceptible populations. Experimental evidence in rodents indicates that inhaled or instilled particles from heavy industry, diesel exhaust particles, woodsmoke or collected from different locations can cause lung injury, inflammation, potentiation of allergic airway responses as well as myriad systemic and cardiovascular effects. Although the chemistry of particles intuitively must influence particle toxicity in both a quantitative and qualitative manner, the health effects in the exposed population are quite consistent across a wide variety of sources, seasons and geographical locations. It should also be noted that particles collected from the same airshed might differentially affect the lung versus the heart depending upon the size and chemistry. This presentation will describe a range of environmental factors in urban air that impact cardiopulmonary function and susceptibility to the development of atopic allergy and cardiovascular disease. Included among those considered will be particles from combustion of diesel and biomass and size fractionated ambient air samples from different locations. The relative importance of such factors utilizing source apportionment models, and the mechanistic basis for their action will be discussed. (This abstract does not reflect EPA policy)