Black carbon as an Additional Indicator of the Adverse Health Effects of Airborne Particles Compared to PM10 and PM2.5 (44 page pdf, Nicole AH Janssen, Gerard Hoek, Milena Simic-Lawson, Paul Fischer, Leendert van Bree, Harry ten Brink, Menno Keuken, Richard W Atkinson, H Ross Anderson, Bert Brunekreef, Flemming R Cassee, Environmental Health Perspectives, Aug. 2, 2011)Particulate Matter (PM) has long been used as a basis for indicating health impacts from vehilc emissions. In the report reviewed today, another indicator, Black Carbon (BCP), was found to have a greater sensitivity to proximity to roads and on mortality and is being recommended as an additional pollutant standard.
Key Quotes:
“Current air quality standards for particulate matter use the PM mass concentration (PM10 or PM2.5) as a metric…In this paper we evaluate the value of BCP as an indicator of the adverse health effects of combustion particles in addition to PM mass”
“Combustion-related particles are thought to be more harmful to health than PM that is not generated by combustion..In urban areas, road traffic is a major source of combustion PM…Combustion particles also derive from a variety of sources other than motorized road traffic including wood and coal burning, shipping, and industrial sources”
“NO2 is not a suitable indicator to evaluate the effect of traffic abatement measures on exposure to combustion particles because some abatement measures, such as filters on diesel fueled vehicles, may increase NO2 levels”
“On average, BCP concentrations near busy roads were twice as high as urban background BCP concentrations, whereas PM concentrations near busy roads were only about 20% higher than background levels”
“Single-pollutant effect estimates for daily mortality or hospital admissions generally were an order of magnitude higher for BCP compared to PM10 and PM2.5 when expressed per Eg/m3”
“BS levels on rural and urban locations in the Netherlands were about 50% higher on weekdays compared to Sundays, whereas BS concentrations at urban traffic locations were about 100% higher on weekdays compared to Sundays”
“In a modeling study of the effect of a speed limit reduction (from 120 to 90 km/hour) on air quality in Flanders, EC concentrations decreased up to 30% just next to the busiest highways, compared to an estimated reduction of at most 8.5% for PM2.5”
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