Human health damage caused by particulate matter PM10 and ozone in urban environments: the case of Athens, Greece

2013 ◽  
Vol 185 (8) ◽  
pp. 6933-6942 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Kassomenos ◽  
K. Dimitriou ◽  
A. K. Paschalidou

Author(s):  
Natalia Mikosch ◽  
Markus Berger ◽  
Elena Huber ◽  
Matthias Finkbeiner

Abstract Purpose The water footprint (WF) method is widely applied to quantify water use along the life cycle of products and organizations and to evaluate the resulting impacts on human health. This study analyzes the cause-effect chains for the human health damage related to the water use on a local scale in the Province Punjab of Pakistan, evaluates their consistency with existing WF models, and provides recommendations for future model development. Method Locally occurring cause-effect chains are analyzed based on site observations in Punjab and a literature review. Then, existing WF models are compared to the findings in the study area including their comprehensiveness (covered cause-effect chains), relevance (contribution of the modeled cause-effect chain to the total health damage), and representativeness (correspondence with the local cause-effect chain). Finally, recommendations for the development of new characterization models describing the local cause-effect chains are provided. Results and discussion The cause-effect chains for the agricultural water deprivation include malnutrition due to reduced food availability and income loss as well as diseases resulting from the use of wastewater for irrigation, out of which only the first one is addressed by existing WF models. The cause-effect chain for the infectious diseases due to domestic water deprivation is associated primarily with the absence of water supply systems, while the linkage to the water consumption of a product system was not identified. The cause-effect chains related to the water pollution include the exposure via agricultural products, fish, and drinking water, all of which are reflected in existing impact assessment models. Including the groundwater compartment may increase the relevance of the model for the study area. Conclusions Most cause-effect chains identified on the local scale are consistent with existing WF models. Modeling currently missing cause-effect chains for the impacts related to the income loss and wastewater usage for irrigation can enhance the assessment of the human health damage in water footprinting.



2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (20) ◽  
pp. 7048
Author(s):  
Alarico Macor ◽  
Alberto Benato

The aim of the work is to evaluate the damage to human health arising from emissions of in-operation internal combustion engines fed by biogas. The need of including also unregulated emissions like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), aldehydes and dioxins and furans is twofold: (i) to cover the lack in biogas engine emissions measurements and (ii) to complete the picture on biogas harmfulness to human health by identifying the substances with the highest impact. To this purpose, an experimental campaign is conducted on six biogas engines and one fed by natural gas all characterised by an electric power of 999 kWel. Collected data are used to perform an impact analysis on human health combining the Health Impact Assessment and the Risk Assessment. Measurements show that PAHs, aldehydes and diossin and furans are almost always below the detection limit, in both biogas and natural gas exhausts. The carcinogenic risk analysis of PAHs for the two fuels established their substantial equivalence. The analysis of equivalent toxicity of dioxins and furans reveals that biogas is, on average, 10 times more toxic than natural gas. Among regulated emissions, NOx in the biogas engines exhausts are three times higher than those of natural gas. They are the main contributors to human health damage, with approximately 90% of the total. SOx ranks second and accounts for about 6% of the total damage. Therefore, (i) the contribution to human health damage of unregulated emissions is limited compared to the damage from unregulated emissions, (ii) the damage per unit of electricity of biogas engines exhausts is about three times higher than that of natural gas and it is directly linked to NOx, (iii) obtaining a good estimation of the human health damage from both biogas and natural gas engines emissions is enough of a reason to consider NOx and SOx.





2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. A731
Author(s):  
S Debaveye ◽  
W De Soete ◽  
S De Meester ◽  
D Vandijck ◽  
B Heirman ◽  
...  


Author(s):  
Kexin You ◽  
Bin Gao ◽  
Meiyu Wang ◽  
Xiaoyu Wang ◽  
Kingsley Chidiebere Okoro ◽  
...  

Human health damage and economic losses due to bacterial infections are very serious worldwide. Excessive use of antibiotics has caused an increase in bacterial resistance. Fortunately, various non-antibiotic antibacterial materials...



2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 2339-2348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longlong Tang ◽  
Tatsuya Nagashima ◽  
Kouichi Hasegawa ◽  
Toshimasa Ohara ◽  
Kengo Sudo ◽  
...  




2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 275-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Antipova ◽  
◽  
T. Кomisova ◽  
A. Sak


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 2300-2310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longlong Tang ◽  
Tatsuya Nagashima ◽  
Kouichi Hasegawa ◽  
Toshimasa Ohara ◽  
Kengo Sudo ◽  
...  


2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 2288-2299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longlong Tang ◽  
Ryouta Ii ◽  
Koji Tokimatsu ◽  
Norihiro Itsubo


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