Air Quality and Human Health

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Air Quality and Human Health
Cameron Wake Institute for the Study of Earth,
Oceans and Space University of New Hampshire
Seacoast Science Center August 17, 2004
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Denora, Pennsylvania 29 Oct 1948
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Key Questions
How will ICARTT improve public health? How do we
know air pollution is bad for human health? What
happens when we clean up the air? What is the
INHALE project? What can I do to improve air
quality?
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• 40,000 per year
• 70,000 per year

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Health Effects of Exposure to Ozone and PM2.5
Ozone PM2.5
coughing nose and throat irritation chest
pain reduced lung function increased
susceptibility to respiratory
illness aggravation of asthma children and
people with chronic lung disease are particularly
at risk
increased risk of cardiac arrest and premature
death aggravation of asthma respiratory
related hospital visits reduced lung function
and chronic bronchitis work and school
absences children and people with chronic lung
disease are particularly at risk
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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
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New England is a Hot Spot for Childhood Asthma
From New England Asthma Regional Council Report
Asthma In New England (2001 data)
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Factors which cause asthma (asthma
prevalence) Hereditary Exposure to
contaminants Cigarette smoke Obeisty Heigene A
ir Pollution? Factors which provoke asthma
(asthma attack) Cigarette Smoke Biological -
Pollen, Mold Emotional Stress Indoor Air
Quality Weather / Outdoor Air Quality
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Asthma in exercising children exposed to ozone
a cohort study Rob McConnell et al., 2002, THE
LANCET vol. 359
3535 children 12 communites 5 years
Low ozone max 1 hr median 48 ppb High ozone
max 1 hr median 74 ppb
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Key Questions
How will ICARTT improve public health? How do we
know air pollution is bad for human
health? What happens when we clean up the
air? What is the INHALE project? What can I do
to improve air quality?
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Air Pollution and Health Studies
Harvard Six City Study Dockery et al., 1993,
N Engl. J. Med. Vol. 329, 1753-1759. American
Cancer Society Study Pope et al., 1995, A. Am
J Respir Crit Care Med 151, 669-674 Heath Effects
Institute Reanalysis (Krewski et al., 2000,
Health Effects Institute, Cambridge, July) The
National Morbidity, Mortality, and Air Pollution
Study (Samet et al., 2000, Health Effects
Institute, Cambridge, May)

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Reanalysis of the Harvard Six Cities Study and
the American Cancer Society (ACS) Study of
Particulate Air Pollution and Mortality Health
Effects Institute, July 2002
Study Overview Harvard
ACS sulfate particles No. cities
6 151 50 No.
subjects 8,111 552,138 295,223 No.
deaths 1,430 38,963 20,765 Mean age
49.7 58.5 58.6 Air
Quality study based EPA
EPA monitors Total followup yrs 14-16
about 7 ?PM2.5(µg/m3) 18.6 (11-29.6)
24.5(9-33.5) ?SO4 8.0(4.8-12.8) 19.9(3.6-23.5)
Original Works Dockery et al., An association
between air pollution and mortality in six US
cities, NE Journal of Medicine 329, 1753-1759,
1993. Pope et al., Air pollution as a predictor
of mortality in a prospective study of U.S.
adults. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 151, 669-674,
1995.
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Relative Risk of Mortality Associated with an
18.6 µg/m3 Increase in Fine Particles in the
Reanalysis of the Six Cities Study
Risk Models Base air pollution only Original
air pollution, sex, age, smokers, pack-years
smoking, BMI, education Full Original plus
several other covariates (passive smoking,
marital status, alcohol, etc.)
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Relative Risk of Mortality Associated with an
24.5 µg/m3 Increase in Fine Particles in the
Reanalysis of the ACS Study
Risk Models Base air pollution only Original
air pollution, sex, age, smokers, pack-years
smoking, BMI, education Full Original plus
several other covariates (passive smoking,
marital status, alcohol, etc.)
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Ozone / Hospital Admissions(Burnett, et al 2001)
1.0 0.5 0.0 -0.5
Respiratory Hospital Admissions
Anomalies (adjusted)
-20 0 20
40 O3 (ppbv) difference from mean value (5-day
average filtered Max 1-hour ppb)
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Key Questions
How will ICARTT improve public health? How do we
know air pollution is bad for human health? What
happens when we clean up the air? What is the
INHALE project? What can I do to improve air
quality?
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Public Transportation 216 Traffic Counts -
23 Ozone -30 PM10 -16
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Results Acute Care Visits for Asthma1-16 year
old residents of Atlanta
-11
-42
-19
-44
July 19 August 4, 1996 Source Friedman, et al,
JAMA, 2001
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Results Total Non-Asthma Related Acute Care
Visits1-16 year old residents of Atlanta
July 19 August 4, 1996 Source Friedman, et al,
JAMA, 2001
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Tip of the Iceberg
Adverse health effects that could be avoided
every year by meeting the US EPA's daily maximum
ozone standard (80 ppb 8-hr) in New York. Figure
sections not drawn to scale. From Thurston 1997.
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Key Questions
How will ICARTT improve public health? How do we
know air pollution is bad for human health? What
happens when we clean up the air? What is the
INHALE project? What can I do to improve air
quality?
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New England lies directly downwind of major urban
and industrial centers in the eastern United
States.
Map of common storm tracks across the United
States. We are sometimes the tailpipe of North
America
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8 hr Ozone Exceedance Days 1983-2002
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Summer 2004 ICARTT Campaign (International
Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport
and Transformations)
http//www.al.noaa.gov/ICARTT/
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INHALE

• Goal of INHALE project is to improve public
  health by
• Engaging a wide range of stakeholders in a
  collaborative effort to better define the link
  between broad measures of pulmonary health and
  air pollution
• Using the results to create informed public
  policy and guide the product development of the
  NOAA air quality forecasting effort
• Determining the health care costs associated
  with air pollution events

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INHALE - Summer 2004

• Pulmonary Function Monitoring in New England
• Sentinel Physician Programs
• Partner Hospitals and Companies
• Scientists at Research Facilities (UNH, DES,
  HHS)
• Individuals at Retirement Communities

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INHALE - Summer 2004 Pulmonary Function Monitoring
Spirometry Twice daily
Respiratory Symptoms Once daily
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Summer 2004 New England Health Tracking
CampaignProposed Pulmonary Function Testing
Sites
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Key Questions
How will ICARTT improve public health? How do we
know air pollution is bad for human health? What
happens when we clean up the air? What is the
INHALE project? What can I do to deal with air
pollution?
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Real Time Air Quality Data on the Web
http//airmap.unh.edu
NH Dept. of Environmental Services www.des.state.n
h.us/airdata/
EPA Region 1 http//www.epa.gov/region1/a
qi/index.html
EPA National www.epa.gov/airnow/northeast
.html
NOAA/NWS coming soon
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Personal Decisions

• Automobile you drive and alternatives
• Energy Efficiency
• Purchase clean power

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Power Plant Emissions Particulate Matter-Related
Health Damages and the Benefits of Alternative
Emission Reduction Scenarios June 2004 Abt
Associates Inc.
Emissions Inventory for 2010 and 2020 for
different policy options Baseline, Clear Skies,
Carper/Gregg/Chafee Jeffords/Leiberman/
Collins Modelled resulting air quality Modeled
adverse heath effects including premature
mortality, hospital admissions, ER visits, lost
work days, restricted activity days
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2010 Premature Mortality Risk Attributable to
PM2.5 from Power Plants (Baseline)


From Abt Associates, 2004, Power Plant Emissions
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2010 Premature Mortality Risk Attributable to
PM2.5 from Power Plants (Carper/Gregg/Chafee)


From Abt Associates, 2004, Power Plant Emissions
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Power Plant Emissions Particulate Matter-Related
Health Damages and the Benefits of Alternative
Emission Reduction Scenarios June 2004 Abt
Associates Inc.


CGC Carper, Gregg Chafee JLC Jeffords,
Leiberman, Collins
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S
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The 2003 North American electrical blackout An
accidentalexperiment in atmospheric
chemistry Marufu et al., 2004, Gephys. Res Lett.
, Vol. 31, L13106.
15 Aug
4 Aug
Comparison of (a) SO2 mixing ratios (b) O3
mixing ratios (c) particle light scattering at
550 nm and (d) particle light absorption at 565
nm measured on 15 Aug, 2003 (open diamonds) and 4
Aug, 2002 (filled diamonds) over Selinsgrove,
Pennsylvania.
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Hidden Health Benefits of Greenhouse Gas
Mitigation Luis Cifuentes, Victor
H. Borja-Aburto, Nelson Gouveia, George Thurston,
Devra Lee Davis actions that reduce GHG
emissions also yield powerful immediate benefits
to public health by reducing adverse effects
of local air pollution air pollution currently
sickening or killing millions throughout
world reducing emissions from older coal-fired
power plants in U.S. could provide substantial
benefits to public health avoidance of 18,700
deaths, 3 million lost work days, 16 million
restricted activity days (Clean Air Task
Force, Boston, MA 2000) reduction in adverse
health effects over 20 years (2001-2020) in 4
cities (Mexico City, New York, Santiago, and
Sao Paulo - combined population 65 million)
through adoption of GHG mitigation
technologies that would reduce ozone and PM by
10. This would avoid 64,000 premature
deaths 65,000 chronic bronchitis cases 37
million person days of restricted activity GHG
mitigation can provide considerable local public
health benefits air pollution reduction-related
health benefits could be strong motivator for GHG
mitigation actions
www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 293 17
AUGUST 2001
1257
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SSC talk 40,000 vs 70,000 Why ICARTT? need best
science to develop informed policy science tells
us where best to attack the problem eg.
VOCs EPA/real time aq data Air quality vs
Global warming (Albritton) Different problems but
similar policy solutions UNH CHP plant