Health Risk Impacts of Exposure to Airborne Metals and Benzo(a)Pyrene during Episodes of High PM10 Concentrations in Poland

Objective To check whether health risk impacts of exposure to airborne metals and Benzo（a） Pyrene during episodes of high PM10 concentrations lead to an increased number of lung cancer cases in Poland. Methods In this work, we gathered data from 2002 to 2014 concerning the ambient concentrations of PM10 and PM10-bound carcinogenic Benzo（a）pyrene [B（a）P] and As, Cd, Pb, and Ni. With the use of the criterion of the exceedance in the daily PM10 mass concentration on at least 50% of all the analyzed stations, the PM10 maxima’s were selected. Lung cancer occurrences in periods with and without the episodes were further compared. Results During a 12-year period, 348 large-scale smog episodes occurred in Poland. A total of 307 of these episodes occurred in the winter season, which is characterized by increased emissions from residential heating. The occurrence of episodes significantly （P 〈 0.05） increased the concentrations of PM10-bound carcinogenic As, Cd, Pb, Ni, and B（a）P. During these events, a significant increase in the overall health risk from those PM10-related compounds was also observed. The highest probability of lung cancer occurrences was found in cities, and the smallest probability was found in the remaining areas outside the cities and agglomerations. Conclusion The link between PM pollution and cancer risk in Poland is a serious public health threat that needs further investigation.

Submicron particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Polish teaching rooms： Concentrations, origin and health hazard

The goal of the work was to investigate the concentrations of the 16 US EPA priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons（PAH） bound to submicrometer particles（particulate matter, PM1） suspended in the air of university teaching rooms and in the atmospheric air outside. Two teaching rooms were selected in two Polish cities, Gliwice, southern Poland,and Warsaw, central Poland, differing with regard to the ambient concentrations and major sources of PM and PAH. The variabilities of indoor and outdoor 24-hr concentrations of PM1-bound PAH, the ratio（I/O） of the indoor to outdoor 24-hr concentrations of PM1-bound PAH, probable sources of PAH and the level of the hazard from the mixture of the 16 PAH（ΣPAH） to humans at both sites were analyzed. In both Warsaw and Gliwice, the mean concentrations of PM1-bound ΣPAH were slightly higher in the atmospheric air than in the rooms. The indoor and outdoor concentrations of individual PAH in Gliwice were correlated,in Warsaw – they were not. Most probably, the lack of the correlations in Warsaw was due to the existence of an unidentified indoor source of gaseous PAH enriching PM1 in phenanthrene, fluorene, and pyrene. Although the ambient concentrations of PM1-bound PAH were low compared to the ones observed earlier at both sites, they were much higher than in other urbanized European areas. However, because of low mass share of heavy PAH in ΣPAH, the various indicators of the health hazard from the 16 PAH mixture were low compared to other regions.