Exposure measurement, risk assessment and source identification for exposure of traffic assistants to particle-bound PAHs in Tianjin, China

Abstract

a b s t r a c tTo investigate the levels of exposure to particulate-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and to estimate the risk these levels pose to traffic assistants (TAs) in Tianjin (a megacity in North China), a measurement campaign (33 all-day exposure samples, 25 occupational-exposure samples and 10 indoor samples) was conducted to characterize the TAs' exposure to PAHs, assess the cancer risk and identify the potential sources of exposure. The average total exposure concentration of 14 PAHs was approximately 2871 ± 928 ng/m 3 (on-duty), and 1622 ± 457 ng/m 3 (all-day). The indoor PAHs level was 1257 ± 107 ng/m 3 . After 8000 Monte Carlo simulations, the cancer risk resulting from exposure to PAHs was found to be approximately 1.05 × 10 −4 . A multivariate analysis was applied to identify the potential sources, and the results showed that, in addition to vehicle exhaust, coal combustion and cooking fumes were also another two important contributors to personal PAH exposure. The diagnostic ratios of PAH compounds agree with the source apportionment results derived from principal component analysis.

Risk assessment of personal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and aldehydes in three commercial cooking workplaces

“…In the literature, reported ranges of estimated cancer risk related to cooking emissions include 2.5 × 10 −6 – 1.4 × 10 −5 for household cooking emissions 9 , 9.0 × 10 −5 – 1.13 × 10 −4 for night market workers 2 , and 1.96 × 10 −8 –1.31 × 10 −6 for frequent customers of six restaurants 27 . For comparison, examples of median or mean ILCRs reported in the literature included 2.96 × 10 −5 for inhalation exposure in temple workers 40 ; 1.055 × 10 −4 for traffic assistants (i.e., workers who assist police in controlling heavy traffic) 41 , 1.6 × 10 −5 in motorcycle commuters based on an estimated daily BaP eq of 0.40 μg/d 23 , and 2.3 × 10 −4 in topside coke oven workers based on personal exposure to 16 PAHs 35 . In comparison with other sources, cooking-related emissions showed a moderate cancer risk.…”

Comparison of Lung Damages Due to Petrol and Diesel Car Smoke Exposures: Histological Study

“…This resulted in the increase of the risk for the people living near the highway that had to be exposed daily [16]. Based on the previous research about the effect of the vehicles smoke for the traffic assistance that increased the chance of developing cancer [17].…”

Health Risk of Ambient PM10-bound PAHs at Bus Stops in Spring and Autumn in Tianjin, China

“…Once released into the atmosphere, most carcinogenic PAHs are predominantly contributors to PAH emissions in urban areas (Tuominen et al, 1988;Hanedar et al, 50 2014; Xue et al, 2014;Shen et al,2013). Since PAHs were mainly infiltrated from 51 the outdoor environment through fuel, coal and gasoline burning (Cheruiyot et 52 al.2015), more attention should be paid for the environment of transportation.…”