International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health
Influence of industrial sources on children's health – Hot spot studies in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany
Introduction
North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) with the Ruhr District is an important agglomeration area for coal mining, steel production and other heavy industries in central Europe. Within the framework of the clean air action plans of the state government of NRW several large environmental health surveys were started in the 1970s. From 1985 up to 1997 nine consecutive cross-sectional studies with children (school beginners) and middle-aged women (55 year old) were undertaken. A summary of the human biomonitoring (HBM) results of these studies has been published recently (Wilhelm et al., 2007).
As in many parts of the world, ambient air quality has improved during the last decades. For example, in the Rhine Ruhr region cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) levels in ambient air (annual means, urban background) decreased from 11 to 0.44 ng/m3 for Cd and from 1.13 to 0.02 μg/m3 for Pb between 1974 and 2005 (LUA, 2006). However, despite successful programs to improve air quality, ambient air levels of contaminants in the vicinity of certain industrial sources, frequently located closely to residential areas, may still be increased, and health concerns are raised due to the possible exposure and exposure-related health effects especially of children living close to such sources.
In 2000 the North Rhine Westphalia State Environment Agency identified three “hot spot” areas. These were characterized by increased total suspended particulate (TSP) levels and site specific air pollutants such as benzo[a]pyrene, benzene, Cd, Pb, chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni). The aim of this study was to evaluate the hot spot specific influence of air pollution on internal contaminant exposure and on health effects such as upper respiratory irritations and infections as well as symptoms of allergy and sensitization. This paper will give an overview on the results. Special aspects will be published in separate papers.
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Table 1 gives an overview on the hot spots and the study design.
Study groups
The characteristics of the study groups are summarized in Table 2.
External exposure assessment
The personal total suspended particulate (TSP) exposure of the children is summarized in Table 3. Personal Cd levels in ambient air (n=239) ranged from 1.5 to 31 ng/m3 in Duisburg South compared to 0.5 ng/m3 in Borken (n=215). Pb levels ranged from 0.05 to 0.73 μg/m3 in Duisburg South (n=239) compared to 0.03 μg/m3 in Borken (n=215). The values partly exceeded the current German limit values for Cd and Pb in ambient air. The Ni
Discussion
This study clearly shows that despite improved air quality during the last decades “hot spot” emissions still occur and children living in the vicinity of industrial sources are at risk of increased internal contaminant exposure and increased health effects when compared to children from a reference area.
However, most HBM results (metals, benzene metabolites) of this study indicate that the internal exposure of the children to contaminants was rather low as compared with other studies, with
Perspective
The main industrial source in Duisburg North, a coke oven plant, has been shut down in 2003. Therefore in 2005 a repeated cross-sectional study and a follow-up study were carried out to find out if the increased internal PAH exposure and DNA exposure of children living in Duisburg North has dropped. A further cross-sectional study with children was introduced in 2005/6 at four different hot spots with increased Cr and Ni ambient air levels to evaluate if increased exposure to Cr and Ni from
Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the North Rhine Westphalia State Ministry for Environment and Nature Conservation, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Düsseldorf, Germany. We thank the Sanitary Boards in Borken, Duisburg and Dortmund for their excellent support and all parents and children for their participation.
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