Environmental Epidemiology, Volume 1 Public Health and Hazardous Wastes (1991) / Chapter Skim
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4. Air Exposures
4. Air Exposures
Pages 157-178
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From page 157... ...
In order to improve the scientific basis for studying health effects of such exposures, this chapter reviews methodologic approaches to the study of air pollution, and discusses how these approaches may be applied to the study of airborne exposure to hazardous wastes. Also, relevant studies on airborne exposure to materials similar to those found at hazardous-waste sites are assessed, along with some evidence of exposures from hazardous-waste sites or other related exposures, such as may occur with the sick building syndrome.
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From page 158... ...
One report that analyzes mortality in Steubenville, Ohio (Schwartz and Dockery, 1990) , finds a significant association between mortality and airborne particulate matter at concentrations well below the ambient air quality standard of 150 micrograms per cubic meter.
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From page 159... ...
The analytical issues raised in studies of such acute events are relevant to the study of hazardous wastes. Longitudinal studies of such episodes within a single population are confounded by multiple factors that occur when different geographic regions are compared.
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From page 160... ...
At least one cross-sectional ecological study (Lave and Seskin, 1977) found associations between long-term airborne exposures to sulfate pollution and age-, race-, and sex-adjusted mortality rates in urban areas of the U.S.
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From page 161... ...
One review of age-adjusted, sex-, race- and site-specific cancer mortality rates in U.S. counties for three time periods found significantly elevated rates of bladder cancer in males in counties surrounding the Drake Superfund site in Pennsylvania (Budnick et al., 1984~.
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From page 162... ...
Follow-up studies of children known to have suffered from lead exposure showed that lead levels in umbilical cord blood predict a child's performance on the Bailey scales of mental development at 6 months and at 18 months of age (Bellinger et al., 1987~. Exposure categories were in three groups, <5 ,ug/dL (micrograms per deciliter)
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From page 163... ...
A more recent study (Groupe Cooperatif PAARC, 1982) found significant regressions in men, women, and children of FEV1 against sulfur dioxide pollution levels in 10 French cities.
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From page 164... ...
In 1948, Hardy reported chronic beryllium disease in persons who lived adjacent to a fluorescent lamp plant in Massachusetts. Additional cases of beryllium disease have been reported among persons living in the vicinity of a beryllium extraction plant (Eisenbud et al., 1949~.
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From page 165... ...
After the landfill closed, the differences disappeared, adding plausibility to the association between exposure to airborne pollutants and low birth weight. Follow-up studies of residents close to Love Canal yielded similar results with this end point, with some evidence of an effect that subsided in later years (Goldman et al., 1985~.
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From page 166... ...
, umbilical cord lead levels to congenital anomalies (Needleman et al., 1984) , and identified bone demineralization as an internal source of lead exposure (Silbergeld et al., 1988~.
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From page 167... ...
(1988) of children attending summer camps are a special case, because daily symptom reporting and daily measurements of lung function can be correlated to pollution levels measured continuously at the same site.
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found a significant relationship between summer air pollutants and hospital admissions for acute respiratory disease in southern Ontario. Data from acute-care facilities in the region's 79 hospitals were taken over a nine-year observation period.
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From page 169... ...
First, they provide broad support for the use of systematic and longitudinal symptom reporting, or hospital visits, as valid outcome measurements and investigative tools. Such reports are easier to obtain than are physiologic measurements, and in the case of respiratory illness they appear to be as useful in some cases as are measurements of function test change.
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From page 170... ...
Although the unravelling of the genesis of this syndrome is not yet complete, it contains important lessons for studies of hazardous-wastesite epidemiology. In many cases involving hazardous-waste sites, the complaints are subjective and similar to those of the sick building syndrome.
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From page 171... ...
or to sulfur dioxide (Koenig et al., 1990~; and asthma patients are much more sensitive to inhaled sulfur dioxide than are those who do not have asthma (Sheppard, 1989)
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From page 172... ...
. Exposure to hydrocarbons in urban air has not been monitored routinely since the 1970s and there has been little work on their direct effects except in studies of the sick building syndrome (Molhave, 1985; Kjaergaard et al., 1989~.
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From page 173... ...
These are often comparable to the symptoms reported in the sick building syndrome. There are insufficient data to determine whether or not airborne exposure to tonics from hazardous-waste sites has resulted in nationwide increases in cancer mortality, or adverse pregnancy outcomes.
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1987. Hospital admissions and air pollutants in Southern Ontario: The acid summer haze effect.
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1985. Low birth weight, prematurity and birth defects in children living near the hazardous waste site, Love Canal.
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1985. Volatile organic compounds as indoor air pollutants.
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1986. Urban air quality and acute respiratory illness.
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From page 178... ...
1984. Incidence of low birth weight among Love Canal residents.
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