Health effects Particles sulphur dioxide Dioxins Metals Benzene Nitrogen dioxide carbon monoxide |
Health Effects ........... this page under construction during 2009 ........... Polycyclic Aromatic
Hydrocarbons Sources Working in certain industries such as foundries, coking plants and metal working can expose you to airborne PAH's. Tobacco smoking and living with or close to solid fuel domestic heating can also expose you to dangerous levels of PAH's. Health Effects Many of the airborne PAH's are carcinogenic in the long term with lung cancer being the main outcome. At least 25 000 lung cancer deaths in the UK are caused by inhaled carcinogens, mostly from tobacco smoke but up to 4000 lung cancer deaths are thought to be from other causes. Exposure We are exposed to PAHs by inhaling smoke from coal,
wood and tobacco mostly attached to fine particles but some
remain as vapour in air. We ingest PAH's by drinking contaminated
water and eating food much of which contains tiny amounts of PAH's but
certain foods
such as smoked, barbecued, flame-grilled or char-grilled meats can
contain levels of PAH's which are of very serious concern. Epidemiology
has shown that workers chronically exposed to fumes containing
combustion
products from coke and coal gas manufacture and in aluminium
smelters
are at an increased risk of lung cancer. Benzo-a-pyrene is used as a
marker
to indicate the presence of PAH's and the UK government has established
a
limit of 0.25ng/m3 as an annual average in ambient air to protect the
population
from cancer due to PAH inhalation. Ambient air (average annual) in a
domestic
solid fuel heating area is known to vary between 1ng/m3 (Lisburn, NI)
and
4ng/m3 (Christchurch, NZ). Rooms with a wood burning stove have been
measured
to have peaks of several hundred ng/m3 BaP. Wood smoke has been
reported
to be over ten times the carcinogenic potency as tobacco smoke. A
cigarette
typically emits 100ng BaP. A 50m3 room with a peak of 400ng/m3 due to a
wood
stove is the equivalent of having 200 cigatettes smoked in it.
Assessment
of benzo[a]pyrene concentrations in the UK in 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020
|