title: [Polycyclic aromatic hidrocarbons deposition in the Milazzo-Valle del Mela (Sicily Region, Southern Italy) high-risk area following an oil refinery fire].
abstract: On September 2014, a fire began within an oil refinery involving a storage tank containing several hundreds of thousands cubic meters of virgin naphtha. Mayors of neighbouring municipalities asked the Epidemiology and Prevention Society "Giulio A. Maccacaro" to carry out an environmental survey in order to evaluate what was the nature and how dangerous was suspended dust deposited by the fumes. In the following days, after fire had been extinguished we conducted a sample survey on the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and metals in particulate deposited on the soil on a radius of five kilometres from the refinery and we engaged the exposed population. The Milazzo-Valle del Mela (Sicily Region, Southern Italy) high-risk area includes several industrial plants; among them, an oil refinery and a fuel powered energy plant. As reference area we selected the Sarroch municipality (Sardinia Region, Southern Italy), in the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, which is geographically comparable, where a large oil refinery is located and where an environmental campaign with measurement of PAH and metals in particulate matter was ongoing. Qualitatively, metal composition of particulate matter resulted similar in the Sarroch and Milazzo samples. Instead, a large excess of PAH was documented in the Milazzo samples as compared to the Sarroch ones. In conclusion, the results of the analysis of the samples of particulate matter deposited in the Milazzo area in the days immediately following the oil refinery fire showed a high quantity of PAH, carcinogenic substances which pose major hazard to population health. The greater fall-out was registered in the proximity of the burnt storage tank and the West neighbourhood, and at lesser extent in the Southern neighbourhood. As a consequence, there was a population exposure to carcinogenic substances which could have reached the food chain.
authors.affiliation: Società per l'epidemiologia e la prevenzione "Giulio A. Maccacaro", impresa sociale s.r.l., Milano.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grechi
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di statistica, informatica, applicazioni "G. Parenti", Università degli Studi di Firenze. abiggeri@disia.unifi.it.|Unità di biostatistica, Istituto per lo studio e la prevenzione oncologica (ISPO), Firenze.
authors.forename: Annibale
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biggeri
mesh_terms: D002947:Cities; D004190:Disasters; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D019652:Extraction and Processing Industry; D005390:Fires; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis; D010578:Petroleum; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000032:analysis*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012802:Sicily; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D052638:Particulate Matter; D010578:Petroleum; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons