Measurements of benzene and formaldehyde in a medium sized urban environment. Indoor/outdoor health risk implications on special population groups

Abstract

In the present study, the results of a measurement campaign aiming to assess cancer risk among two special groups of population: policemen and laboratory technicians exposed to the toxic substances, benzene and formaldehyde are presented. The exposure is compared to general population risk. The results show that policemen working outdoor (traffic regulation, patrol on foot or in vehicles, etc.) are exposed at a significantly higher benzene concentration (3-5 times) than the general population, while the exposure to carbonyls is in general lower. The laboratory technicians appear to be highly exposed to formaldehyde while no significant variation of benzene exposure in comparison to the general population is recorded. The assessment revealed that laboratory technicians and policemen run a 20% and 1% higher cancer risk respectively compared to the general population. Indoor working place air quality is more significant in assessing cancer risk in these two categories of professionals, due to the higher Inhalation Unit Risk (IUR) of formaldehyde compared to benzene. Since the origin of the danger to laboratory technicians is clear (use of chemicals necessary for the experiments), in policemen the presence of carbonyls in indoor air concentrations due to smoking or used materials constitute a danger equal to the exposure to traffic originated air pollutants.

Removal of Indoor Carbon Dioxide and Formaldehyde Using Green Walls by Bird Nest Fern

“…Wong et al (2006) stated that 9 indoor air pollutants [i.e., airborne bacterial count (ABC), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), formaldehyde (HCHO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), ozone (O 3 ), radon (Rn), respirable suspended particulates (RSP), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)] and 3 thermal comfort parameters [i.e., air velocity (V), relative humidity (RH), and temperature (T)] could affect people's health to a certain extent. According to studies on the measurement of indoor air quality (IAQ) that have been conducted by Kim et al (2013), Pilidis et al (2009), andWong et al (2006), this variable is critical for health and quality of life.…”

“…Higher concentrations of HCHO may also induce nausea, vomiting, cough, chest tightness, and asthma, or even pneumonia, pulmonary edema, or death when exposure to over 6.5 mg·m −3 HCHO occurs (Pilidis et al, 2009). High temperature, high humidity, negative pressure, and high loading significantly accelerate HCHO diffusion.…”

“…Therefore, indoor HCHO levels could exceed the standard allowable concentration under certain conditions. Moreover, the release of HCHO requires a long period, generally between 3 and 15 years (Pilidis et al, 2009). In addition, the air-purifying effect of plants is correlated with the number of them planted indoors (Aydogan and Montoya, 2011;Su and Lin, 2013).…”

Aspects to consider for selection of chemical risk assessment methodology: the case of formaldehyde occupational exposure

“…Considering these characteristics it was possible to propose this new risk assessment methodology, based on Queensland University proposal and make an association between occupational exposure to formaldehyde air concentrations and health effects. Recent studies [17,18] showed EPA methodology application in occupational settings with FA exposure but, as suggested by the methodology described, making use of the TWA 8h values obtained in the situations studied. Thus, applying this equation to ours results we obtain values that are lower and equal to 9,3 x10 -3 (LCP) when, the cancer risk from formaldehyde exposure in general population is 1x10 -6 LCP, and in occupational settings, will be greater than 1x10 -4 LCP [11,19].…”

Formaldehyde from e-cigarettes-it's not as simple as some suggest

“…As just one example, using the same cancer slope factor as employed in our work, Pilidis et al [8] computed predicted numerical cancer risk values due to formaldehyde in indoor and outdoor air in urban Ioannina, a medium-sized (100 000 inhabitants) city in northwestern Greece.…”