Investigation of Microenvironmental Exposures to Particle-Bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons for Elementary School Children

Chin-Sheng Tang, Shih-Chun Candice Lung, Ta-Yuan Chang, Han-Hsiang Tu and Li-Te Chang
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Chin-Sheng Tang: Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 242, Taiwan
Shih-Chun Candice Lung: Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan
Ta-Yuan Chang: Department of Occupational Safety and Health, College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung 404, Taiwan
Han-Hsiang Tu: Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, Fu Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City 242, Taiwan
Li-Te Chang: Department of Environmental Engineering and Science, Feng Chia University, Taichung 407, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 22, 1-13

Abstract: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are formed when organic matters incompletely combust and get distributed into the air in the form of vapor or the particular phase of absorption or condensation on the surface of respirable particles. Certain PAHs are considered as carcinogenic and mutagenic, and are primarily associated with the particulate phase. Therefore, the characterization of exposure to particle-bound PAHs (p-PAHs) is critical to assessing the health risks in our daily life. A panel study was conducted during the years 2004 and 2005 to assess microenvironmental exposures to p-PAHs for elementary school children living in Taipei metropolitan area. During the study, integrated filter samples were collected by a dust monitor (model 1.108, Grimm) for 17 p-PAH species analysis using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The sampling durations were five days. Overall, 52 samples for children’s microenvironmental exposures were included in the data analysis. Results showed that geometric mean (GM) levels (and geometric standard deviation) of p-PAH exposures were 4.443 (3.395) ng/m 3 for children. The top three highest proportions of p-PAH components were indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene (IND) (21.7%), benzo[g,h,i]perylene (BghiP) (18.5%), and dibenz[a,h]anthracene (DBA) (9.1%), all of which are 5- or 6-ring p-PAHs. In addition, results from diagnostic ratios and principal component analysis (PCA) found that traffic pollution, incense burning, and cooking emission were the major p-PAH exposure sources for children. The total benzo[a]pyrene equivalent (BaPeq) concentration was 1.07 ± 0.80 ng/m 3 (mean ± standard deviation), with a GM of 0.84 ng/m 3 . The GM value of the inhalation carcinogenic risk was 7.31 × 10 −5 with the range of 2.23 × 10 −5 to 3.11 × 10 −4 , which was higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration guideline limit of 10 −6 . DBA accounted for 45.1% of the excess cancer risk, followed by benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) (33.5%) and IND (10.7%). In conclusion, the current study demonstrated that inhalational cancer risk due to the p-PAH exposures for children is not negligible, and more efficient technical and management policies should be adopted to reduce the PAH pollutant sources.

Keywords: particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; microenvironmental exposure; elementary school children; benzo[a]pyrene equivalent concentration; risk assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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