Distribution, Fate, Inhalation Exposure and Lung Cancer Risk of Atmospheric Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Some Asian Countries.
A large-scale monitoring program, the Asia Soil and Air Monitoring Program (Asia-SAMP), was conducted in five Asian countries, including China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and India. Air samples were collected using passive air samplers with polyurethane foam disks over four consecutive 3-month periods from September 2012 to August 2013 to measure the seasonal concentrations of 47 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), including 21 parent and 26 alkylated PAHs, at 176 sites (11 background, 83 rural, and 82 urban). The annual concentrations of total 47 PAHs (∑47PAHs) at all sites ranged from 6.29 to 688 ng/m(3) with median of 82.2 ng/m(3). Air concentrations of PAHs in China, Vietnam, and India were greater than those in Japan and South Korea. As expected, the air concentrations (ng/m(3)) were highest at urban sites (143 ± 117) followed by rural (126 ± 147) and background sites (22.4 ± 11.4). Significant positive correlations were found between PAH concentrations and atmosphere aerosol optical depth. The average benzo(a)pyrene equivalent concentration (BaPeq) was 5.61 ng/m(3). It was estimated that the annual BaPeq concentrations at 78.8% of the sampling sites exceeded the WHO guideline level. The mean population attributable fraction (PAF) for lung cancer due to inhalation exposure to outdoor PAHs was on the order 8.8‰ (0.056-52‰) for China, 0.38‰ (0.007-3.2‰) for Japan, 0.85‰ (0.042-4.5‰) for South Korea, 7.5‰ (0.26-27‰) for Vietnam, and 3.2‰ (0.047-20‰) for India. We estimated a number of lifetime excess lung cancer cases caused by exposure to PAHs, which the concentrations ranging from 27.8 to 2200, 1.36 to 108, 2.45 to 194, 21.8 to 1730, and 9.10 to 720 per million people for China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, and India, respectively. Overall, the lung cancer risk in China and Vietnam were higher than that in Japan, South Korea, and India.
International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University , Dalian 116026, China.
Wen-Jun
WJ
Hong
International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University , Dalian 116026, China.
Hongliang
H
Jia
IJRC-PTS, State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150090, China.
Wan-Li
WL
Ma
IJRC-PTS, Department of Zoology, Patna University , Patna 800 005, Bihar, India.
Ravindra Kumar
RK
Sinha
IJRC-PTS, Department of Marine Sciences and Convergent Technology, Hanyang University , 55 Hanyangdaehak-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan city, Gyeonggi-do 426-791, Republic of Korea.
Hyo-Bang
HB
Moon
IJRC-PTS, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kumamoto University , 2-39-1 Kurokami, Kumamoto 860-8555, Japan.
Haruhiko
H
Nakata
DIOXIN LABORATORY, Center for Environmental Monitoring (CEM), Vietnam Environmental Administration (VEA) , 556 Nguyen Van Cu, Long Bien, Ha Noi, Vietnam.
Nguyen Hung
NH
Minh
Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, National Yang Ming University , Taipei 112, Taiwan.
Kai Hsien
KH
Chi
IJRC-PTS, State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150090, China.
Wen-Long
WL
Li
IJRC-PTS, Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany , Empire State Plaza, P.O. Box 509, Albany, New York 12201-0509, United States.
Kurunthachalam
K
Kannan
IJRC-PTS, State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150090, China.
Ed
E
Sverko
International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University , Dalian 116026, China.|IJRC-PTS, State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology , Harbin 150090, China.|IJRC-PTS-NA , Toronto, M2N 6X9, Canada.
Yi-Fan
YF
Li
D001208:Asia; D006801:Humans; D019570:Inhalation Exposure; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D012306:Risk
D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons