Patterns of household concentrations of multiple indoor air pollutants in China.
Most previous studies on indoor air pollution from household use of solid fuels have used either indirect proxies for human exposure or measurements of individual pollutants at a single point, as indicators of (exposure to) the mixture of pollutants in solid fuel smoke. A heterogeneous relationship among pollutant-location pairs should be expected because specific fuel-stove technology and combustion and dispersion conditions such as temperature, moisture, and air flow are likely to affect the emissions and dispersion of the various pollutants differently. We report on a study for monitoring multiple pollutants--including respirable particles (RPM), carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, fluoride, and arsenic--at four points inside homes that used coal and/or biomass fuels in Guizhou and Shaanxi provinces of China. All pollutants exhibited large variability in emissions and spatial dispersion within and between provinces and were generally poorly correlated. RPM, followed by SO2, was generally higher than common health-based guidelines/standards and provided sufficient resolution for assessing variations within and between households in both provinces. Indoor heating played an important role in the level and spatial patterns of pollution inside homes, possibly to an extent more important than cooking. The findings indicate the need for monitoring of RPM and selected other pollutants in longer-term health studies, with focus on both cooking and living/sleeping areas.
He
Gongli
G
National Institute for Environmental Health and Related Product Safety, China Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 100050, People's Republic of China.
Ying
Bo
B
Liu
Jiang
J
Gao
Shirong
S
Shen
Shaolin
S
Balakrishnan
Kalpana
K
Jin
Yinlong
Y
Liu
Fan
F
Tang
Ning
N
Shi
Kai
K
Baris
Enis
E
Ezzati
Majid
M
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis*; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis; D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000032:analysis; D002681:China; D003296:Cooking; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005459:Fluorides / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D012906:Smoke; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide / Q000032:analysis
D000393:Air Pollutants; D012906:Smoke; D013458:Sulfur Dioxide; D002248:Carbon Monoxide; D001151:Arsenic; D005459:Fluorides