Toxic Air Pollution: A Comprehensive Study of Non-Criteria Air Pollutants. Paul J. Lioy and Joan M. Daisey, Eds. Lewis Publishers, 121 S. Main St., Chelsea, Mich. 48118. 1987. 294 pages. $49.95, cloth. Reviewed by Julian B. Andelman, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15261. The Airborne Toxic Element and Organic Substances (ATEOS) project was funded by the state of New Jersey and conducted from 1981 to 1985. It involved measurements and assessments of a large number of potentially toxic, mostly noncriteria, ambient air contaminants at three urban sites and one rural site in New Jersey. Toxic Air Pollution: A Comprehensive Study of Non-Criteria Air Pollutants, which describes this study, consists of eight chapters written by 11 of the 45 participants in the project. The participants represented three academic institutions, one research institute, and the Department of Environmental Protection of New Jersey. The principal goals of the project were to obtain quantitative information on human exposures to outdoor ambient air carcinogens, assess biological activity levels for various fractions by short-term in vitro assays, evaluate time and location variables, and estimate possible sources and human health risks. The introductory chapter of the book describes the study design. The final chapter presents an overview that summarizes the study’s important findings and considers their health and regulatory implications. Other chapters discuss and assess the composition and variability of the constituents studied, including inhalable particulate matter (IPM), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). They also cover the mutagenicity of various IPM fractions, the nature of air pollution episodes, and models that assess pollution Sources using the results of analyses obtained at varioug sites. Particulate and vapor-phase samples were taken for 24 hours a day during four 39-day sampling periods from
1981 through 1983. Sampling was carried out during two winter and two summer periods. The chemical constituents analyzed included nine inorganic elements, sulfate, 16 PAHs extracted from various fractions of the IPM samples, and 25 volatile organics. These VOCs included a variety of chlorinated and nonchlorinated aromatic chemicals and 1 1 low-molecular-weight chlorinated organics. The Ames salmonella test was used to assess the mutagenicity of three extractable fractions of the IPM. Sampling and analytical methodologies are described in considerable detail. Much of this large and complex study has been published in peer-reviewed journals and reports, which are listed in an appendix. Nonetheless, it is quite useful to have all of this information compiled in one book, together with the perspectives of the authors as well as background and expanded interpretations not normally found in a scientific journal. There is necessarily some repetition-such as when the chapters on Ames testing or source modeling discuss variations in IPM results with time or location-but the material generally is well organized. To get a broad view of the study and its major findings, it may be useful first to read Chapter 1, on the study design, and then Chapter 8, an overview that discusses health and regulatory implications. Chapter 8 summarizes the principal findings of the other chapters and includes quantitative estimates of risk for several chemicals. The approach taken for the latter involves generally accepted risk assessment methodology. It does not provide insight into the risks likely from the whole range of ambient airborne chemicals to which residents of the study areas would be exposed because it considers only a few by example. One conclusion, however, is that the measured concentrations of benzo[uJpyrene and PAH “pose an unreasonable level of risk to the population” and that they “have the highest level of attributable risk of all the classes of material measured in the ATEOS project.” M a y of the authors have considerable experience in their portion of the project, as shown by citations of their work ih the reference lists. This adds to
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the authoritative nature of the study. The comparisons with studies elsewhere are particularly valuable in placing the results of this study in perspective. It has been concluded that the volatile organic chemical levels “are sufficiently low in New Jersey to disregard the notion that a statewide problem exists for this class of ambient air pollutants”; also, “levels of aromatic VOCs are consistent with those reported , . . for urban air.” There is a brief reference to the EPA’s Total Exposure Assessment Methodology (TEAM) study, which included measurements of indoor and outdoor concentrations of 20 VOCs in air at one of the cities included in the ATEOS study (the ATEOS and TEAM studies were conducted during approximately the same time periods). It would have been more useful if the ATEOS results were compared with those of the TEAM study, especially since the latter found that indoor concentrations normally are much higher than those outdoors. In fact, it was assumed in the risk assessment for perchloroethylene that its indoor air concentrations are 80%of those outdoors, clearly at variance with the TEAM findings. The ATEOS study also found that a number of VOCs that are human or animal carcinogens are ubiquitous at the study sites, but noted that their adverse health effects at these concentrations are essentially unknown. It was recommended that “ambient air monitoring should be designed to define the nature of mutagenic material in the extractable organic matter.” It is clear that the aims of assessing likely exposures at the study sites have been achieved, but that the health risks from the totality of these ambient air exposures remain uncertain. One can only admire the considerable effort and dedication required to bring this study to fruition-a sentiment that is reflected in this well-written and edited book. In spite of its somewhat skimpy index, Toxic Air Pollution: A Comprehensive Study of Non-Criteria Air Pollutants should prove valuable to those undertaking comprehensive air pollution studies, as well as to those in didactic courses considering the nature and complexity of toxic air pollution. Environ. Sci. Technol., Vol. 22, No. 2, 1988 151
