Lecture 9 Flashcards
What are the two classifications of air pollutants?
- criteria pollutants (widespread, common and detrimental to human welfare)
- hazardous air pollutants (usually carcinogen, different in different regions in US)
What’s the underlying policy of the clean air act?
Everybody should have the same degree of protection
Establish uniform national standards
Most susceptible subgroups of individuals (i.e. asthmatics, children) are to be protected
States implement the plan
Describe criteria air pollutants
They’re emitted from many large diverse sources, including mobile and stationary sources
Omnipresent and, therefore, pose the greatest overall threat to human health
Presupposition: the adverse health effects are not cancerous and their dose-response relationship exhibits a threshold.
Name 6 types of criteria air pollutants (CAPs).
- particulate matter (PM)
- sulfur dioxide (SO2)
- nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
- ozone (O3)
- carbon monoxide (CO)
- lead (pb)
Name 5 types of hazardous air pollutants.
Mostly carcinogens:
PCBs
xylene
mercury
benzene
toluene
chromium
PAH
styrene
What are some sources of air pollution?
mobile sources: such as cars, buses, planes, trucks, and trains
stationary sources (major): one or a group of sources emitting >-10 tons/yr. (power plants, oil refineries, industrial facilities, etc.)
area sources: any stationary source that is not a major source (agricultural areas, cities, wood burning fireplaces)
natural sources: such as wind-blown dust, wildfires, and colcanoes
What is particulate matter?
dust, mist, smoke, fume
some particles are large or dark enough to be seen as soot or smoke
other particles are so small that they can detected only with an electron microscope
originate from a variety of mobile and stationary sources (diesel trucks, wood stoves, power plants, etc.)
their chemical and physical composition varies widely
Describe transport and fate of pollutants.
What causes smog?
How does particulate size affect toxicokinetics?
The smaller the particle size, the greater it’s surface area, and so the greater lung disposition(greater absorption like effect)
What is ozone?
Found in the troposphere and in the stratosphere of the atmosphere. Stratospheric ozone protects the earth from the sun’s harmful rays.
Ground-level ozone: a main component of smog
Who are people at risk of ground level ozone formation?
people that:
live close to traffic
lung developing (pregnancy and children)
asthmatic
genetic risk
What are the reasons of concern for indoor air pollutants?
How can air inside of a building be polluted?
What are the health effects of indoor air pollution?
What are some sources of indoor pollutants?
How does ozone affect one’s body?
damage to lipids affects membranes
protein oxidation
DNA damage could lead to mutations resulting in cell death or cancer initiation
What are the health effects of ozones?
aggravates lung diseases such as asthma, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis
increases the frequency of asthma attacks
makes the lungs more susceptible to infection
continues to damage the lungs even when the symptoms have disappeared
Describe asthma and it’s significance in public health
Most common chronic disorders affecting children
seven million children under the age of 18 have asthma in the S
third leading cause of hospitalization among children under age of 15 (in 2008, was associated with an estimated 10.5 million missed school days)
