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2003
Journal Article
Titel
Bewertung des aktuellen wissenschaftlichen Kenntnisstandes zur gesundheitlichen Wirkung von Partikeln in der Luft
Alternative
Assessment of the current knowledge regarding health effects of airborne particles
Abstract
In connection with the pending amendment of threshold values for airborne particles in ambient air of the European Union, a working group of the Commission on Air Pollution Prevention of VDI and DIN has critically reviewed the actual data on exposure and health effects of fine particulate matter. The limit values to be met by January 2005 are exceeded at certain measuring points influenced by traffic. PM2.5 exposure can be estimated only roughly due to the few measuring points available. The ratio PM10/PM 2.5 amounts generally to 0.8 - 0.9. There are only occasional data on ultra-fine particles (< 0.1 m) available. During the past 10 years a great number of new toxicological and epidemiological studies on health effects of particular matter have been published. They are critically reviewed in this report. Several large population studies demonstrate clear associations between certain health indicators and PM the association being stronger for finer particles. Time se ries studies show significant associations between the exposure to fine particles on one hand and cardiovascular and respiratory mortality and morbidity on the other hand. The epidemiological studies do not permit an estimation of a threshold value for health effects. The working group concludes that a further reduction of the limit values will significantly reduce health risks due to particulate air pollution. Because of the strong correlation between PM10 and PM2.5 at most European sites there is no need for special limit values regarding PM2.5.