Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Doornfontein Campus, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg 2094, South Africa.
Environment and Health Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Johannesburg 2094, South Africa.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 30;20(3):2465. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20032465.
Air pollutants of concern include particulate matter (PM) in fine size fractions. Thus far, a few studies have been conducted to study the adverse health effects of environmental and occupational air pollutants among informal vendors in big cities in South Africa. Informal vendors in these cities may experience higher exposure to road dust, cooking fumes, and air pollution. This exposure assessment was part of a health risk assessment study of vendors. The objective of this exposure assessment was to determine the differences between outdoor and indoor informal vendors' personal PM exposures during trading hours. A walkthrough survey was conducted to map the homogeneous exposure groups (HEGs) at vendor markets for sampling purposes, and one market was selected from each of the three identified HEGs. Twenty-five informal cooked food vendors from both indoor (inside buildings) and outdoor (street or roadside vendors) markets in the inner city of Johannesburg, South Africa, participated in the study. HEG-1 were vendors from indoor stalls who used electricity and gas for cooking (10 vendors), HEG-2 was composed of informal outdoor vendors at a fenced site market who used open fire for cooking (10 vendors), and HEG-3 (5 vendors) were roadside vendors who used gas for cooking. Cooking vendors from outdoor markets recorded higher TWA concentrations than indoor market vendors. The vendors' PM concentrations ranged from <0.01 mg/m to 0.77 mg/m. The mean concentrations of PM were found to be 0.12 mg/m, and 0.18 mg/m for HEG-2, and HEG-3, respectively. HEG-2 recorded the highest PM TWA concentrations, followed by HEG-3 and HEG-1. All concentrations were below the South African occupational exposure limit. The findings point to the need for further research into the health risks associated with outdoor cooking vendors, particularly those who utilize open fires.
关注的空气污染物包括细颗粒物 (PM)。迄今为止，已有一些研究旨在研究南非大城市中非正式摊贩在环境和职业空气污染物方面的健康不良影响。这些城市中的非正式摊贩可能会经历更高的道路灰尘、烹饪烟雾和空气污染暴露。这种暴露评估是健康风险评估研究的一部分。该暴露评估的目的是确定在营业时间内户外和室内非正式摊贩个人 PM 暴露之间的差异。为了采样目的，进行了一次步行调查以绘制同质暴露组 (HEG) 图，并且从三个确定的 HEG 中选择了一个市场。南非约翰内斯堡市中心的室内（建筑物内）和室外（街头或路边摊贩）市场的 25 名非正式熟食摊贩参与了这项研究。HEG-1 是使用电力和气体烹饪的室内摊位摊贩（10 名摊贩），HEG-2 由使用明火烹饪的封闭式场地市场的非正式户外摊贩组成（10 名摊贩），而 HEG-3（5 名摊贩）是使用气体烹饪的路边摊贩。来自户外市场的烹饪摊贩记录的 TWA 浓度高于室内市场摊贩。摊贩的 PM 浓度范围从 <0.01mg/m 到 0.77mg/m。发现 PM 的平均浓度分别为 0.12mg/m 和 0.18mg/m，用于 HEG-2 和 HEG-3。HEG-2 记录了最高的 PM TWA 浓度，其次是 HEG-3 和 HEG-1。所有浓度均低于南非职业暴露限值。这些发现表明需要进一步研究与户外烹饪摊贩相关的健康风险，特别是那些使用明火的摊贩。
