What are toxic air pollutants?
What are health & environmental effects of toxic
air pollutants?
How are people exposed to air toxics?
Can I find out about the toxics in my community?
What progress has EPA made in reducing emissions?
More Health Effects Information / Más Información de Efectos
de Salud
Links to Other EPA Offices Concerned With Air Toxics
What are toxic air pollutants?
Toxic air pollutants, also known as hazardous
air pollutants, are those pollutants that are known or suspected to
cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive
effects or birth defects, or adverse environmental effects. EPA is
working with state, local, and tribal governments to reduce air
toxics releases of 187 pollutants
to the environment. Examples of toxic air pollutants include
benzene, which is found in gasoline; perchlorethlyene, which is
emitted from some dry cleaning facilities; and methylene chloride,
which is used as a solvent and paint stripper by a number of
industries. Examples of other listed air toxics include dioxin,
asbestos, toluene, and metals such as cadmium, mercury, chromium,
and lead compounds.
What are the health and environmental
effects of toxic air pollutants?
People exposed to toxic air pollutants at
sufficient concentrations and durations may have an increased chance
of getting cancer or experiencing other serious health effects.
These health effects can include damage to the immune system, as
well as neurological, reproductive (e.g., reduced fertility),
developmental, respiratory and other health problems. In addition to
exposure from breathing air toxics, some toxic air pollutants such
as mercury can deposit onto soils or surface waters, where they are
taken up by plants and ingested by animals and are eventually
magnified up through the food chain. Like humans, animals may
experience health problems if exposed to sufficient quantities of
air toxics over time.
How are people exposed to air
toxics?
People are exposed to toxic air pollutants in
many ways that can pose health risks, such as by:
- Breathing contaminated air.
- Eating contaminated food products, such as fish from
contaminated waters; meat, milk, or eggs from animals that fed on
contaminated plants; and fruits and vegetables grown in
contaminated soil on which air toxics have been deposited.
- Drinking water contaminated by toxic air pollutants.
- Ingesting contaminated soil. Young children are especially
vulnerable because they often ingest soil from their hands or from
objects they place in their mouths.
- Touching (making skin contact with) contaminated soil, dust,
or water (for example, during recreational use of contaminated
water bodies).
Once toxic air pollutants enter the body, some
persistent toxic air pollutants accumulate in body tissues.
Predators typically accumulate even greater pollutant concentrations
than their contaminated prey. As a result, people and other animals
at the top of the food chain who eat contaminated fish or meat are
exposed to concentrations that are much higher than the
concentrations in the water, air, or soil.
Can I find out about the toxics in my
community?
- National
Air Toxics Assessments -- These sites provide emissions and health risk information on around 300 air toxics that present the greatest threat to public health in the largest number of urban areas. Maps and lists are available and can be requested by state or county level.
- Toxics Release Inventory
-- This database includes information for the public about
releases of toxic chemicals from manufacturing facilities into the
environment through the air, water, and land. You can access the
data by typing in your zip code.
What progress has EPA made in reducing
toxic emissions?
- Controls for industrial and commercial sources of
toxics -- EPA has issued rules covering over 80 categories of
major industrial sources, such as chemical plants, oil refineries,
aerospace manufacturers, and steel mills, as well as categories of
smaller sources, such as dry cleaners, commercial sterilizers,
secondary lead smelters, and chromium electroplating facilities.
These standards are projected to reduce annual air toxics
emissions by about 1.5 million tons.
- Controls for cars and trucks -- EPA and state
governments (e.g., California) have reduced emissions of benzene,
toluene, and other air toxics from mobile sources by requiring the
use of reformulated gasoline and placing limits on tailpipe
emissions. Important new controls for fuels and vehicles are
expected to reduce selected motor vehicle air toxics from 1990
levels by more than 75% by 2020. For more information, see Mobile Source Air
Toxics.
- Indoor air -- EPA, in close cooperation with other
Federal agencies and the private sector, is actively involved in
efforts to better understand indoor air pollution and to reduce
people's exposure to air pollutants in offices, homes, schools,
and other indoor environments. For more information, see Indoor Air Quality.
- Stationary Source Emission Control--A Primer on Basic Air Pollution Control
Technology
- A Resource for Air Emission Control Technology Consumers and Vendors
http://neet.rti.org/
Contact: Paul Peterson (919) 990-8623
- A Resource for Biomediation of Air Emissions Bioreactor/Biomediation Research-in-Progress
- For further information call 919-541-2379.
Health and ecological effects
resources
- The Health
Effects Notebook for Hazardous Air Pollutants -- Detailed
information about the health effects of hazardous air pollutants
(HAPs) is available in separate fact sheets, for nearly every HAP
specified in the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.
- Mercury -- Learn
more about mercury and what is being done to protect your health.
- Air
Pollution and Health Risk -- Find out how we know when a risk
from a hazardous substance is serious. Learn how researchers
estimate risk, and how the government uses this information to
develop regulations that limit our exposure to hazardous
substances.:Contaminación aérea y Riesgo de Salud.
- Evaluating
Exposures to Toxic Air Pollutants: A Citizen's Guide -- Toxic
air pollutants can increase the chance of health problems and
cause ecological impacts. This publication explains the process
that EPA uses to determine how much of a toxic air pollutant
people are exposed to and how many people are exposed. Exposiciones evaluando Contaminantes
de Aire Tóxicos: Guía de un Ciudadano.
- Risk
Assessment for Toxic Air Pollutants: A Citizen's Guide -- Find
out more about risk assessment, which is the process used to
estimate the risk of illness from a specific human exposure to a
toxic air pollutant. Evaluación de Riesgo para Contaminantes Tóxicos del Aire: Guía de un Ciudadano
Links to other air toxics
resources
- Chemical
Accident Prevention and Preparedness -- includes information
about leaks and spills, prevention of accidental releases of toxic
chemicals, emergency planning, and community right-to-know
issues.
- Information
for Concerned Citizens on pollution prevention and toxics --
contains links to information about pollution in several
categories, including home and family, information resources,
initiatives, and workplace issues.
- Toxics Release Inventory
-- contains information about more than 650 toxic chemicals that
are being used, manufactured, treated, transported, or released
into the environment.
- Mobile Source Air
Toxics-- provides information on regulations for air
pollutants from mobile sources .
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