Global nature of airborne particle toxicity and health effects: a focus on megacities, wildfires, dust storms and residential biomass burning
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Kelly, Frank J
Fussell, Julia C
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Since air pollutants are difficult and expensive to control, a strong scientific underpinning to policies is needed to guide mitigation aimed at reducing the current burden on public health. Much of the evidence concerning hazard identification and risk quantification related to air pollution comes from epidemiological studies. This must be reinforced with mechanistic confirmation to infer causality. In this review we focus on data generated from four contrasting sources of particulate air pollution that result in high population exposures and thus where there remains an unmet need to protect health: urban air pollution in developing megacities, household biomass combustion, wildfires and desert dust storms. Taking each in turn, appropriate measures to protect populations will involve advocating smart cities and addressing economic and behavioural barriers to sustained adoption of clean stoves and fuels. Like all natural hazards, wildfires and dust storms are a feature of the landscape that cannot be removed. However, many efforts from emission containment (land/fire management practices), exposure avoidance and identifying susceptible populations can be taken to prepare for air pollution episodes and ensure people are out of harm’s way when conditions are life-threatening. Communities residing in areas affected by unhealthy concentrations of any airborne particles will benefit from optimum communication via public awareness campaigns, designed to empower people to modify behaviour in a way that improves their health as well as the quality of the air they breathe.
Date Issued
2020-07-01
Date Acceptance
2020-06-08
Citation
Toxicology research, 2020, 9 (4), pp.331-345
ISSN
2045-452X
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry
Start Page
331
End Page
345
Journal / Book Title
Toxicology research
Volume
9
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For
commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For
commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
License URL
Sponsor
National Institute for Health Research
Identifier
https://academic.oup.com/toxres/article/doi/10.1093/toxres/tfaa044/5865569
Grant Number
NIHR200880
Subjects
desert dust
epidemiology
household air pollution
megacities
particulate matter
toxicology
wildfires
0399 Other Chemical Sciences
1115 Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-07-01