Health effects Particles PAH's Dioxins Metals Benzene Nitrogen dioxide carbon monoxide |
Sulphur dioxide One effect of SO2 is on respiratory health, especially the exacerbation of asthma and chronic bronchitis. A few minutes of exposure to 500ug/m3 SO2 can alter the FEV (a lung function measure) of a sensitive person. Actual exposures of over 125ug/m3 on a daily average have been shown to affect sensitive people. Another important effect is due to particulate aerosol formation, that is secondary particles, which when breathed in has a similar effect to particles. Short term health effects for a 50ug/m3 increase in daily ambient air have been quantified by the UK government in 1998 as:
Ambient levels are now quite low in the UK and peak values are usually well below 100ug/m3. A weekly review of UK measurements can be found here at the UK airquality site. Levels can exceed 1000ug/m3 for short periods, an example being Leamington Spa on January 20th 2009. For UK emissions, see this page on the NAEI site, which indicate that domestic solid fuel burning accounts for 21 000 tonne of SO2 emissions, 3% of the total. See this page on the NAEI site for domestic emission factors. A local hot spot domestic coal burning area with a PM10 ambient air level of 100ug/m3 corresponds to a SO2 value of about 200ug/m3. This would be harmful to some people. It is possible that an emerging smoke plume from a chimney from a bituminous coal burning fire can have a SO2 concentration of up to a million ug/m3 so breathing zones close to such a chimney may be dangerously high. References: UK Health: Quantification of the Effects of Air Pollution on Health in the UK 1998 link here but please note the analysis has been largely superseded by later studies and the effect of SO2 may not be as great as thought in 1998. The main soure of evidence is here BMJ Journal BMJ 1997;314:1658 (7 June) This is a brief resume in the now famous Arden Pope III et al JAMA paper link here (pdf) JAMA. 2002;287:1132-1141 There is a mention of the asthma air pollution link here and here (European Journal of Respiratory Disease 1985 Jul;67(1):41-9) . There is an overview of the general health effects from the American Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry here and here . For children's health, there is a mention of sulphur dioxide in this UK Health Protection Agency report (pdf file). For heart disease, sulphur dioxide is considered to have a positive association with death rates both from short term and long term exposure in this well written COMEAP report (pdf file: Cardiovascular disease and air pollution, Feruary 2006). References: UK government 1995 report see this page for health effects. |