Ambient air pollution and population health: Overview

In November 2003 approximately 200 researchers, stakeholders, and policymakers from more than 40 countries gathered to discuss the science and policy implications of air pollution and human health as part of the AIRNET/NERAM Strategies for Clean Air and Health initiative. The purpose of this paper is to review the more than 35 research posters presented at the conference, including exposure, toxicological, and epidemiological studies of air pollution. Collectively, these papers support previous evidence that both short- and long-term exposures to particulate air pollution have adverse population health impacts, including effects on children. Cellular studies also suggest that air pollution can cause mutagenic and oxidative effects, raising concerns about carcinogenicity and cellular regeneration. Studies of biomarkers, such as Clara-cell proteins and lymphocyte damage assessment, provide further evidence of air pollution effects at the cellular level. Other studies have focused on improvements to measurement and sources of air pollution. These studies suggest that particle mass rather than particle composition may be a more useful indicator of potential human health risk. It is well known that emissions from transportation sources are a major contributor to ambient air pollution in large urban centres. Epidemiologic researchers are able to reduce bias due to misclassification and improve exposure assessment models by allocating air pollution exposure according to distance from traffic sources or landuse patterns. The close association between traffic patterns and air pollution concentrations provides a potential basis for the development of transport policies and regulations with population health improvements as a primary objective. The results of the research presented here present opportunities and challenges for the development of policies for improvements to air quality and human health. However, there remains the challenge of how best to achieve these reductions.