Derivation of a toxicity reference value for nitrogen trichloride as a disinfection by-product.

Nitrogen trichloride is a highly volatile chlorination disinfection by-product, very commonly found in the air of indoor swimming pools. The aim of this work is to characterize the hazard associated with it and to determine the concentration at which health effects appear, for application in health risk assessments for users of indoor swimming pools. Hazard identification was based on a literature survey and analysis of animal and human studies, with special attention paid to their methodological quality and to reports of a dose-response relationship.

Short-term effects of ambient particles on cardiovascular and respiratory mortality.

Background: Particulate air pollution is associated with increased mortality. There is a need for European results from multicountry databases concerning cause-specific mortality to obtain more accurate effect estimates.

Methods: We report the estimated effects of ambient particle concentrations (black smoke and particulate matter less than 10 mum [PM10]) on cardiovascular and respiratory mortality, from 29 European cities, within the Air Pollution and Health: a European Approach (APHEA2) project.

Public health benefits of compliance with current E.U. emissions standards for municipal waste incinerators: a health risk assessment with the CalTox multimedia exposure model.

The Angers municipal solid waste incineration plant, in operation since 1974, was upgraded in 2000 to comply with new European standards. This article discusses the risks associated with past and present emissions from the incinerator and its nearby furnace. Emissions of SO(2), HCl, particulate matter, lead, mercury, cadmium and dioxins were studied.

Risks associated with the microbiological quality of bodies of fresh and marine water used for recreational purposes: summary estimates based on published epidemiological studies.

The current European standards for microbiological quality of bathing water (i.e., all running or still fresh waters or parts thereof and/or sea water [with the exception of water intended for therapeutic purposes and water used in swimming pools]) were issued in 1976 and are currently undergoing revision.

Estimating the exposure-response relationships between particulate matter and mortality within the APHEA multicity project.

Several studies have reported significant health effects of air pollution even at low levels of air pollutants, but in most of theses studies linear nonthreshold relations were assumed. We investigated the exposure-response association between ambient particles and mortality in the 22 European cities participating in the APHEA (Air Pollution and Health--A European Approach) project, which is the largest available European database. We estimated the exposure-response curves using regression spline models with two knots and then combined the individual city estimates of the spline to get an overall exposure-response relationship.

Short-term effects of air pollution on total and cardiovascular mortality: the confounding effect of influenza epidemics.

Background: Air pollution is associated with total mortality. This association may be confounded by uncontrolled time-varying risk factors such as influenza epidemics.

Methods: We analyzed independent data on influenza epidemics from 7 European cities that also had data on mortality associated with particulates (PM10).

The EXPOLIS study: implications for exposure research and environmental policy in Europe.

Exposure analysis is a crucial part of effective management of public health risks caused by pollutants and chemicals in our environment. During the last decades, more data required for exposure analysis has become available, but the need for direct population based measurements of exposures is still clear. The current work (i) describes the European EXPOLIS study, designed to produce this kind of exposure data for major air pollutants in Europe, and the database created to make the collected data available for researchers (ii) reviews the exposure analysis conducted and results published so far using these data and (iii) discusses the implications of the results from the point of view of research and environmental policy in Europe.

Traffic related air pollution and incidence of childhood asthma: results of the Vesta case-control study.

Study Objective: The Vesta project aims to assess the role of traffic related air pollution in the occurrence of childhood asthma.

Design And Setting: Case-control study conducted in five French metropolitan areas between 1998 and 2000. A set of 217 pairs of matched 4 to 14 years old cases and controls were investigated.

Health risk assessment after decontamination of the beaches polluted by the wrecked ERIKA tanker.

Following the wreck of the oil tanker ERIKA off the north-west coast of France in December 1999, cleaning up of the beaches involved considerable work, which in any case could not be perfect. This raised the question of the short- and long-term health risks for the future bathers related to the toxicity of the remaining oil polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This risk assessment study was conducted to help health authorities plan risk management policies and inform the public.

Validation of multimedia models assessing exposure to PAHs--the SOLEX study.

Polluted soils have become a public health problem. While population exposure to soil pollutants is generally quantified using multimedia models, their estimations have not been validated, and studies that attempted to do so are scarce. The objective of the SOLEX study was to compare the predictions of pyrene exposure levels (converted into 1 hydroxypyrene) computed by several models with the results of urinary 1-hydropyrene (1-HOP) assays among 110 employees working at three sites polluted during their past use as manufactured gas plants.

Short-term effects of ambient particles on mortality in the elderly: results from 28 cities in the APHEA2 project.

Within the framework of the APHEA2 (Air Pollution on Health: a European Approach) project, the effects of ambient particles on mortality among persons > or = 65 yrs were investigated. Daily measurements for particles with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 10 microm (PM10) and black smoke (BS), as well as the daily number of deaths among persons > or = 65 yrs of age, from 29 European cities, have been collected. Data on other pollutants and meteorological variables, to adjust for confounding effects and data on city characteristics, to investigate potential effect modification, were also recorded.

Are waterborne astrovirus implicated in acute digestive morbidity (E.MI.R.A. study)?

Background: With rotavirus and Norwalk-like viruses, astroviruses are now recognized as important etiologic agents of viral gastroenteritis in all age groups. However, astrovirus is neither routinely screened for in stool samples, nor in environmental samples, and data on the health impact of waterborne astrovirus are lacking.

Objectives: To assess the potential impact of astrovirus in drinking water on the incidence of acute digestive conditions (ADC) among a panel of volunteers.

Questionnaire or objective assessment for studying exposure to tobacco smoke among asthmatic and healthy children: The French VESTA Study.

Background: The underreporting of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) exposure by parents of study children may depend on the instrument used and population studied, underlining the need for questionnaire validation in specific study settings. This study explores the validity of parent-reported ETS exposure in a French multicenter study on asthma.

Methods: The study population was composed of 313 children ages 4 to 14 years.

Contribution of indoor and outdoor environments to PM2.5 personal exposure of children--VESTA study.

Several studies among adult populations showed that an array of outdoor and indoor sources of particles emissions contributed to personal exposures to atmospheric particles, with tobacco smoke playing a prominent role (J. Expo. Anal.

[Air quality monitoring and personal exposure of children to NO(2) and fine particles].

Background: Personal exposure to air pollutants and ambient air measurements are poorly correlated in the short term. Nevertheless, air quality surveillance data are often used to characterize exposure in epidemiological studies. This work explores a method to derive exposure estimates for a population of children, through appropriate usage of surveillance data that allows for heterogeneity of life environments.

Five epidemiological studies on transport and asthma: objectives, design and descriptive results.

A case-control study was conducted in five French metropolitan areas in order to assess the role of traffic-related air pollution in the occurrence of childhood asthma. This paper presents the study design and describes the distribution of key exposure variables. A set of 217 pairs of matched 4- to 14-year-old cases and controls were investigated (matching criteria: city, age, and gender).

[Description of drinking water intake in French communities (E.MI.R.A. study)].

Background: Assessment of risks associated with waterborne pollutants requires a good characterization of the exposure of individuals and populations. This characterization implies knowledge of pollutants' levels in water and their time variability, and also estimation of drinking water consumption. Several studies were conducted, mostly in North America, on levels of chemical contaminants or prevalence of pathogens.

Relationships between nitrogen dioxide personal exposure and ambient air monitoring measurements among children in three French metropolitan areas: VESTA study.

In epidemiological studies, investigators have routinely used ambient air concentrations, measured by air-quality monitoring networks, to assess exposure of subjects. When there is great spatial variability of ambient air concentrations or when there are specific indoor exposures, this approach may yield substantial exposure misclassification and distort the associations between exposure and the health endpoints of interest. In 3 French metropolitan areas, the cross-sectional relationships between 48 hr of nitrogen dioxide personal exposure of 73 children and the corresponding 48-hr background ambient air concentrations were analyzed.

Confounding and effect modification in the short-term effects of ambient particles on total mortality: results from 29 European cities within the APHEA2 project.

We present the results of the Air Pollution and Health: A European Approach 2 (APHEA2) project on short-term effects of ambient particles on mortality with emphasis on effect modification. We used daily measurements for particulate matter less than 10 microm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) and/or black smoke from 29 European cities. We considered confounding from other pollutants as well as meteorologic and chronologic variables.

A new analytical tool to assess health risks associated with the virological quality of drinking water (EMIRA study).

This work assessed the risks associated with the virological quality of tapwater using a molecular analytical tool manageable in a field survey. It combined a daily epidemiological follow-up of digestive morbidity among a panel of volunteers and a microbiological surveillance of drinking water. RT-PCR was used for detection of enterovirus, rotavirus and astrovirus.

Personal exposure of workers to atmospheric PAHs on gasworks sites--The SOLEX study.

The aim of the SOLEX study was to estimate the personal exposure of workers to atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on former gasworks sites in the Paris metropolitan area. Devices to sample gas and particulate phases for 9 PAHs were carried during one working day of a study week in November 1997 by 24 workers and in June 1998 by 19 workers with contrasted job profiles involving different opportunities for contact with the soil; among these volunteers, some were active in the process of contaminated soil remediation during the November study period. PAH concentrations were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography.

Can one use ambient air concentration data to estimate personal and population exposures to particles? An approach within the European EXPOLIS study.

The objective of this paper is to devise a way to facilitate the use of fixed air monitors data in order to assess population exposure. A weighting scheme that uses the data from different monitoring sites and takes into account the time-activity patterns of the study population is proposed. PM2.

Air pollution and health: correlation or causality? The case of the relationship between exposure to particles and cardiopulmonary mortality.

Many epidemiologic studies have observed, in different contexts, a slight short-term relationship between particles in air and cardiopulmonary mortality, even when air quality standards were respected. The causality of this relationship is important to public health because of the number of people exposed. Our aim was to make a critical assessment of the arguments used in 15 reviews of published studies.