Particles in the Air


Book Description

The book covers the three largest sources of particulate matter pollution in five chapters. These sources constitute three of the top ten public health problems in the world today and far outstrip any other environmental health threats in terms of health impact. The book begins with indoor solid fuel combustion for cooking in lower income countries and tells the story of how this problem was identified and recent efforts to eliminate it. The book next looks at tobacco smoking and second hand smoke, again reviewing the history of how these problems were identified scientifically and the fierce industry push back against the science. The last two chapters cover ambient particulate matter in the outdoor air. They address fine and ultrafine particles, describing the pioneering work on fine PM, the subsequent industry attacks on the scientists and then the emerging interest and concern about ultrafine particles, an area of research in which the author has participated. This book is geared towards non-scientists, including high school and college students.




The Inside Story


Book Description




Toxic Airs


Book Description

Toxic Airs brings together historians of medicine, environmental historians, historians of science and technology, and interdisciplinary scholars to address atmospheric issues on a spectrum of scales from body to place to planet. The chapters analyze airborne and atmospheric threats posed to humans, and contributors demonstrate how conceptions of toxicity have evolved and how humans have both created and mitigated toxins in the air. Specific topics discussed include medieval beliefs in the pestilent breath of witches, malarial theory in India, domestic and military use of tear gas, Gulf War Syndrome, Los Angeles smog, automotive emissions control, the epidemiological effects of air pollution, transboundary air pollution, ozone depletion, the contributions of contemporary artists to climate awareness, and the toxic history of carbon "die"-oxide. Overall, the essays provide a wide-ranging historical study of interest to students and scholars of many disciplines.




WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality


Book Description

This book presents WHO guidelines for the protection of public health from risks due to a number of chemicals commonly present in indoor air. The substances considered in this review, i.e. benzene, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, naphthalene, nitrogen dioxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (especially benzo[a]pyrene), radon, trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, have indoor sources, are known in respect of their hazardousness to health and are often found indoors in concentrations of health concern. The guidelines are targeted at public health professionals involved in preventing health risks of environmental exposures, as well as specialists and authorities involved in the design and use of buildings, indoor materials and products. They provide a scientific basis for legally enforceable standards.




WHO global air quality guidelines


Book Description

The main objective of these updated global guidelines is to offer health-based air quality guideline levels, expressed as long-term or short-term concentrations for six key air pollutants: PM2.5, PM10, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. In addition, the guidelines provide interim targets to guide reduction efforts of these pollutants, as well as good practice statements for the management of certain types of PM (i.e., black carbon/elemental carbon, ultrafine particles, particles originating from sand and duststorms). These guidelines are not legally binding standards; however, they provide WHO Member States with an evidence-informed tool, which they can use to inform legislation and policy. Ultimately, the goal of these guidelines is to help reduce levels of air pollutants in order to decrease the enormous health burden resulting from the exposure to air pollution worldwide.




Outdoor Air Pollution


Book Description

"This publication represents the views and expert opinions of an IARC Working Group on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risk to Humans, which met in Lyon, 8-15 October 2013."




Waste Incineration and Public Health


Book Description

Incineration has been used widely for waste disposal, including household, hazardous, and medical wasteâ€"but there is increasing public concern over the benefits of combusting the waste versus the health risk from pollutants emitted during combustion. Waste Incineration and Public Health informs the emerging debate with the most up-to-date information available on incineration, pollution, and human healthâ€"along with expert conclusions and recommendations for further research and improvement of such areas as risk communication. The committee provides details on: Processes involved in incineration and how contaminants are released. Environmental dynamics of contaminants and routes of human exposure. Tools and approaches for assessing possible human health effects. Scientific concerns pertinent to future regulatory actions. The book also examines some of the social, psychological, and economic factors that affect the communities where incineration takes place and addresses the problem of uncertainty and variation in predicting the health effects of incineration processes.




Air Quality Management in the United States


Book Description

Managing the nation's air quality is a complex undertaking, involving tens of thousands of people in regulating thousands of pollution sources. The authors identify what has worked and what has not, and they offer wide-ranging recommendations for setting future priorities, making difficult choices, and increasing innovation. This new book explores how to better integrate scientific advances and new technologies into the air quality management system. The volume reviews the three-decade history of governmental efforts toward cleaner air, discussing how air quality standards are set and results measured, the design and implementation of control strategies, regulatory processes and procedures, special issues with mobile pollution sources, and more. The book looks at efforts to spur social and behavioral changes that affect air quality, the effectiveness of market-based instruments for air quality regulation, and many other aspects of the issue. Rich in technical detail, this book will be of interest to all those engaged in air quality management: scientists, engineers, industrial managers, law makers, regulators, health officials, clean-air advocates, and concerned citizens.




Air Pollution Calculations


Book Description

Air Pollution Calculations introduces the equations and formulae that are most important to air pollution, but goes a step further. Most texts lack examples of how these equations and formulae apply to the quantification of real-world scenarios and conditions. The ample example calculations apply to current air quality problems, including emission inventories, risk estimations, biogeochemical cycling assessments, and efficiencies in air pollution control technologies. In addition, the book explains thermodynamics and fluid dynamics in step-by-step and understandable calculations using air quality and multimedia modeling, reliability engineering and engineering economics using practical examples likely to be encountered by scientists, engineers, managers and decision makers. The book touches on the environmental variables, constraints and drivers that can influence pollutant mass, volume and concentrations, which in turn determine toxicity and adverse outcomes caused by air pollution. How the pollutants form, move, partition, transform and find their fate are explained using the entire range of atmospheric phenomena. The control, prevention and mitigation of air pollution are explained based on physical, chemical and biological principles which is crucial to science-based policy and decision-making. Users will find this to be a comprehensive, single resource that will help them understand air pollution, quantify existing data, and help those whose work is impacted by air pollution. - Explains air pollution in a comprehensive manner, enabling readers to understand how to measure and assess risks to human populations and ecosystems actually or potentially exposed to air pollutants - Covers air pollution from a multivariate, systems approach, bringing in atmospheric processes, health impacts, environmental impacts, controls and prevention - Facilitates an understanding of broad factors, like climate and transport, that influence patterns and change in pollutant concentrations, both spatially and over time




Preterm Birth


Book Description

The increasing prevalence of preterm birth in the United States is a complex public health problem that requires multifaceted solutions. Preterm birth is a cluster of problems with a set of overlapping factors of influence. Its causes may include individual-level behavioral and psychosocial factors, sociodemographic and neighborhood characteristics, environmental exposure, medical conditions, infertility treatments, and biological factors. Many of these factors co-occur, particularly in those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged or who are members of racial and ethnic minority groups. While advances in perinatal and neonatal care have improved survival for preterm infants, those infants who do survive have a greater risk than infants born at term for developmental disabilities, health problems, and poor growth. The birth of a preterm infant can also bring considerable emotional and economic costs to families and have implications for public-sector services, such as health insurance, educational, and other social support systems. Preterm Birth assesses the problem with respect to both its causes and outcomes. This book addresses the need for research involving clinical, basic, behavioral, and social science disciplines. By defining and addressing the health and economic consequences of premature birth, this book will be of particular interest to health care professionals, public health officials, policy makers, professional associations and clinical, basic, behavioral, and social science researchers.