Impacts of PM exposure near cement facilities on human health and years of life lost: A case study in Brazil.

Cement factories significantly contribute to atmospheric pollution by generating fine particulate matter (PM), which can potentially increase the mortality risk. The lack of information on the health impacts of PM pollution from cement operations in Brazil prompted this investigation. We used corrected PM measurements from low-cost sensors from March 2021 to October 2022 in Rio Branco do Sul, city in the southern region of the country and home to Latin America's largest cement plant, to assess exposure data.

A new strategy for risk assessment of PM-bound elements by considering the influence of wind regimes.

For regulatory purposes, air pollution has been reduced to management of air quality control regions (AQCR), by inventorying pollution sources and identifying the receptors significantly affected. However, beyond being source-dependent, particulate matter can be physically and chemically altered by factors and elements of climate during transport, as they act as local environmental constraints, indirectly modulating the adverse effects of particles on the environment and human health. This case study, at an industrial site in a Brazilian coastal city - Joinville, combines different methodologies to integrate atmospheric dynamics in a strategic risk assessment approach whereby the influence of different wind regimes on environmental and health risks of exposure to PM-bound elements, are analysed.