BackgroundStudies relying on outdoor pollutants measures have reported associations between air pollutants and birth weight.ObjectiveOur aim was to assess the relation between maternal personal exposure to airborne benzene during pregnancy and fetal growth.MethodsWe recruited pregnant women in two French maternity hospitals in 2005–2006 as part of the EDEN mother–child cohort. A subsample of 271 nonsmoking women carried a diffusive air sampler for a week during the 27th gestational week, allowing assessment of benzene exposure. We estimated head circumference of the offspring by ultrasound measurements during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy and at birth.ResultsMedian benzene exposure was 1.8 μg/m3 (5th, 95th percentiles, 0.5, 7.5 μg/m3). Log-transformed benzene exposure was associated with a gestational age–adjusted decrease of 68 g in mean birth weight [95% confidence interval (CI), −135 to −1 g] and of 1.9 mm in mean head circumference at birth (95% CI, −3.8 to 0.0 mm). It was associated with an adjusted decrease of 1.9 mm in head circumference assessed during the third trimester (95% CI, −4.0 to 0.3 mm) and of 1.5 mm in head circumference assessed at the end of the second trimester of pregnancy (95% CI, −3.1 to 0 mm).ConclusionsOur prospective study among pregnant women is one of the first to rely on personal monitoring of exposure; a limitation is that exposure was assessed during 1 week only. Maternal benzene exposure was associated with decreases in birth weight and head circumference during pregnancy and at birth. This association could be attributable to benzene and a mixture of associated traffic-related air pollutants.

Environmental context. Mercury is of concern to both the public and to the scientific community because it is found at high levels in some marine predators, prompting the US EPA and others to make guidelines restricting the consumption of some species. Most mercury in the environment is emitted to the atmosphere, but it is not known how it is transferred from the atmosphere to the marine environment. Therefore, it is important to study the connection between emission of mercury, its transport and removal from the atmosphere. We have developed a new sampler that is inexpensive, easy to use and with a sufficiently high detection limit that it can be used to measure the low mercury concentrations in the atmosphere at a reasonable time resolution. Abstract. Mercury behaves uniquely in the atmosphere due to its volatility and long lifetime. The existing methods for measuring atmospheric mercury are either expensive or labour intensive. The present paper presents a new measurement technique, the diffusive sampler, that is portable, inexpensive, easy to use, and does not need a power supply. The sampler is sufficiently sensitive that it can measure mercury at low ambient levels with an exposure time of 1 to 3 days. The sampler is based on the Radiello diffusive sampler, which was used to collect volatile organic compounds. In the present paper, the method is validated under controlled laboratory conditions. The uptake rate of the Radiello diffusive sampler is determined using known concentrations of gaseous elemental mercury, and is measured as a function of wind speed, relative humidity and temperature. The Radiello sampler has a detection limit of 0.14 ng m–3 for 1 day of exposure and thus can be used to measure mercury concentrations at the low levels found in ambient air. The Radiello sampler is therefore useful for mapping concentrations close to sources and sinks, in addition to ambient concentrations. For example, the sampler can be used to describe the geographical extent of Arctic mercury depletion episodes where gaseous elemental mercury is removed and stays close to 0 ng m–3 for days, and it can be a powerful tool for mapping gradients around point sources and other areas of interest.

International audiencePeople aren't just at risk from carcinogenic benzene when they are out on city streets. Benzene pollution emanating from motor traffic can cause leukaemia with the risk being estimated at about four cases per million among people who experience lifelong exposure to benzene concentrations of 1 micro g m-3 in air. But we show here that personal exposure, and therefore risk estimates, cannot simply be estimated from environmental concentrations of benzene. Using a new sampling device that monitors both of these parameters, we have discovered that people living in different European cities are exposed to concentrations of benzene that may be twice as high as the urban averag

Air pollution is associated with a wide range of adverse respiratory events. In order to study the mechanism associated with these effects, the relationships between fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), a potential marker of airway inflammation, and exposure to air pollution were examined in schoolchildren. FeNO was measured in 104 children (34 asthmatics and 70 non-asthmatics) drawn from the general population simultaneously with air pollution assessments (fine particles with an aerodiameter under 2.5 microm, nitrogen dioxide, acetaldehyde, and formaldehyde, with pumps and passive samplers) in schoolyards and classrooms. Asthmatics exhaled more FeNO than non-asthmatics. FeNO levels were significantly elevated in both asthmatic and non-asthmatic children exposed to high concentrations of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and PM(2.5). Differences between high versus low exposure in non-asthmatics resulted in an FeNO increase ranging from 45% for indoor acetaldehyde to 62% for indoor PM(2.5). Stronger associations were found in non-asthmatic children who were atopic, suggesting that atopic children may be more sensitive to air pollution than non-atopic children. Exposure to air pollution may lead to airway inflammation, as measured by FeNO, in schoolchildren. These associations occur even in children with no history of airway damage and seem to be enhanced in atopic subjects.

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