College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, 310036, China; International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances (IJRC-PTS), MOE Key Laboratory of Environmental Remediation and Ecosystem Health, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310032, China.
Environ Pollut. 2019 Mar;246:398-407. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.12.019. Epub 2018 Dec 11.
Inhalation exposure to atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is posing a great threat to human health. Biomass combustion in rural areas contributes greatly to the total PAH emission in China. To conduct a comprehensive risk assessment of ambient PAHs in rural China, a nationwide air sampling campaign was carried out in this study. The 16 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency priority PAHs in tree bark, which was employed as a passive air sampler, were analyzed. The summation of the 16 PAHs ranged from 11.7 to 12,860 ng/m in the air of rural China. The national median benzo(a)pyrene equivalent (BaP) concentration was 18.4 ng/m, with the range from 0.334 to 2497 ng/m. The total inhalation carcinogenic risks of individual PAHs, with the exception for naphthalene, were very low (<1 × 10) at most of the sampling sites. The national median excess lifetime lung cancer risk associated with inhalation exposure to atmospheric PAHs was 20.3 × 10, corresponding to a population attributable fraction (PAF) of 3.38‰. Our estimations using tree bark were comparable to those reported in other studies and the uncertainties of the variables in the dataset were within the acceptable levels, demonstrating that tree bark is feasible for assessing the atmospheric PAH pollution and associated health risks. We feel that the outputs from this study can assist decision-makers focusing on protecting human health against exposure to atmospheric PAHs in rural China.
大气多环芳烃（PAHs）的吸入暴露对人类健康构成了巨大威胁。农村地区的生物质燃烧对中国总多环芳烃排放贡献巨大。为了对中国农村环境中的大气多环芳烃进行全面风险评估，本研究进行了一次全国性的空气采样活动。采用树皮作为被动空气采样器，分析了 16 种美国环保署优先控制的多环芳烃。空气中 16 种多环芳烃的总和在中国农村的空气中范围为 11.7 至 12,860ng/m。全国苯并(a)芘等效浓度（BaP）的中位数为 18.4ng/m，范围为 0.334 至 2497ng/m。除萘外，个别多环芳烃的总吸入致癌风险在大多数采样点都非常低（<1×10）。与大气多环芳烃吸入暴露相关的全国平均预期终生肺癌风险为 20.3×10，相应的人群归因分数（PAF）为 3.38‰。我们使用树皮进行的估计与其他研究报告的结果相当，并且数据集中变量的不确定性处于可接受水平，这表明树皮可用于评估大气多环芳烃污染和相关健康风险。我们认为本研究的结果可以为决策者提供帮助，使其能够专注于保护中国农村地区人类健康免受大气多环芳烃的侵害。
