Jump to main content.

Research Project Search
 Enter Search Term:
   
 NCER Advanced Search

2001 Progress Report: Air Toxics Exposures Among Teenagers in New York City and Los Angeles—A Columbia-Harvard Study (TEACH)

EPA Grant Number: R828678C001
Subproject: this is subproject number 001 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R824834
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC)
Center Director: Beskid, Craig
Title: Air Toxics Exposures Among Teenagers in New York City and Los Angeles—A Columbia-Harvard Study (TEACH)
Investigators: Kinney, Patrick L. , Aggarwal, Maneesha , Chillrud, Steven , Johnson, Dave , Pederson, Dee C. , Ramstrom, Sonja , Ross, James M. , Spengler, John D.
Institution: Columbia University , Harvard University
Current Institution: Columbia University - Mailman School of Public Health , Harvard School of Public Health , Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
EPA Project Officer: Stacey Katz/Gail Robarge,
Project Period: January 1, 1997 through January 31, 2005
Project Period Covered by this Report: January 1, 2000 through January 31, 2001
RFA: Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC) (1997)
Research Category: Air Quality and Air Toxics , Targeted Research

Description:

Objective:

The purpose of this research effort is to study the personal exposures to urban air toxics experienced by a group of students living in New York City (NYC) and in Los Angeles (LA). The study will provide information on the roles of seasons and days of the week, different meteorological conditions, and daily activities on exposures to selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs), aldehydes, and metals on particles of < 2.5 microns (PM2.5) present in the environment. Soluble fractions of selected metals also will be assayed for correlations with source measurements. Exposure measurements will be made in indoor, outdoor, and personal environments. The investigators will relate these exposures to the apportionment of air toxics among area, point, and mobile sources, as well as non-anthropogenic sources.

Progress Summary:

This project commenced in December 1997, under a previous grant (Grant No. R824834C001), and was scheduled to be completed in December 2001. Because more work was needed to complete the study, it will continue under this follow-on grant through July 2002. The TEACH study is in compliance with the Columbia University’s Institutional Review Board guidelines and governmental human consent regulations. The quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) procedures are in accordance with NUATRC and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines.

Laboratory analyses on the NYC samples have been completed. Data processing on the NYC (winter) database also was complete aside from trace metals. Winter and summer field measurements in LA were successfully completed in 2001. Recruitment was based at the Jefferson High School located in an economically underprivileged community. Approximately 700 survey forms were completed at the school, and 40 subjects participated in the field-monitoring project. Laboratory analyses and data processing of the LA samples are ongoing.

Preliminary results of the TEACH study, specifically as they relate to the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) associated metals data, indicated elevated levels of Mn, Cu, and Cr in personal samples. Significantly high levels of Fe also were associated with personal samples. These were related to time spent in the subway station. These concentrations are consistent with elevated levels of Fe in the subway station air.

Exposure data are in the process of being analyzed descriptively for each toxic parameter being measured, by subject, city, season, and location. Season-specific activity patterns will be displayed. Multivariate analyses of activity patterns and home characteristics will be carried out across seasons and locales. Contributions of indoor and outdoor toxics to personal air toxic exposures will be assessed for the winter and summer seasons for both cities. Time/activity patterns and home ventilation rates will be examined for their effects on these relationships. Source apportionment will be analyzed via studies of the source categories suggested in the subject-based exposure data.

Future Activities:

The following activities will be conducted in the next year: (1) speciation of the fine particulate matter of LA samples; (2) analyses of the air exchange samples; (3) analyses of data; and (4) submission of the final report.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 9 publications for this subproject

Supplemental Keywords:

air pollution, urban, monitoring, exposure, methods, volatile organic compounds, VOCs, indoor air, particulate matter, PM2.5, New York, NY, Los Angeles, California, CA. , HUMAN HEALTH, POLLUTANTS/TOXICS, INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, Air, Scientific Discipline, Health, RFA, PHYSICAL ASPECTS, Susceptibility/Sensitive Population/Genetic Susceptibility, Biology, Risk Assessments, genetic susceptability, Health Risk Assessment, Physical Processes, air toxics, Chemicals, Children's Health, Atmospheric Sciences, Environmental Policy, particulate matter, Environmental Chemistry, Exposure, environmental hazard exposures, airborne urban contaminants, acute exposure, Acute health effects, health effects, indoor air, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), urban air, air contaminant exposure, co-pollutants, children's environmental health, cardiac arrest, air quality, cardiopulmonary response, fine particles, assessment of exposure, human health risk, lung inflammation, toxics, acute cardiovascular effects, chronic health effects, PM 2.5, sensitive populations, acute lung injury, air pollution, airway disease, children, inhaled, atmospheric particulate matter, aldehydes, copollutant exposures, susceptible subpopulations, VOCs, long term exposure, human susceptibility, human exposure, Los Angeles, particulate exposure, inhaled pollutants
Relevant Websites:

Previously Funded Project: R824834C001

Progress and Final Reports:
Original Abstract
2002 Progress Report
2003 Progress Report
2004 Progress Report
2005 Progress Report
2006 Progress Report
2007 Progress Report


Main Center Abstract and Reports:
R824834    Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics Research Center (NUATRC)

Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R824834C001 Air Toxics Exposures Among Teenagers in New York City and Los Angeles - A Columbia-Harvard Study (TEACH)
R824834C002 Cardiopulmonary Response to Particulate Exposure
R824834C003 VOC Exposure in an Industry Impacted Community
R824834C004 A Study of Personal Exposure to Air Toxics Among a Subset of the Residential U.S. Population (VOC Project)
R824834C005 Methods Development Project for a Study of Personal Exposures to Toxic Air Pollutants
R824834C006 Relationship Between Indoor, Outdoor and Personal Air (RIOPA)
R824834C007 Development of the "Leland Legacy" Air Sampling Pump
R824834C008 Source Apportionment of Indoor Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Urban Residences
R824834C009 Development of a Personal Cascade Impactor Sampler (PCIS)
R824834C010 Testing the Metals Hypothesis in Spokane
R828678C001 Air Toxics Exposures Among Teenagers in New York City and Los Angeles—A Columbia-Harvard Study (TEACH)
R828678C002 Cardiopulmonary Effects of Metal-Containing Particulate Exposure
R828678C003 VOC Exposure in an Industry Impacted Community
R828678C004 A Study of Personal Exposure to Air Toxics Among a Subset of the Residential U.S. Population (VOC Project)
R828678C005 Oxygenated Urban Air Toxics and Asthma Variability in Middle School Children: A Panel Study (ATAC–Air Toxics and Asthma in Children)
R828678C006 Relationship between Indoor, Outdoor and Personal Air (RIOPA). Part II: Analyses of Concentrations of Particulate Matter Species
R828678C007 Development of the “Leland Legacy” Air Sampling Pump
R828678C008 Source Apportionment of Indoor PAHs in Urban Residences 98-03B
R828678C009 Development of a Personal Cascade Impactor Sampler (PCIS)
R828678C010 Testing the Metals Hypothesis in Spokane
R828678C011 A Pilot Geospatial Analysis of Exposure to Air Pollutants (with Special Attention to Air Toxics) and Hospital Admissions in Harris County, Texas
R828678C012 Impact of Exposure to Urban Air Toxics on Asthma Utilization for the Pediatric Medicaid Population in Dearborn, Michigan
R828678C013 Field Validation of the Sioutas Sampler and Leland Legacy Pump – Joint Project with EPA’s Environmental Technology Validation Program (ETV)
R828678C014 Performance Evaluation of the 3M Charcoal Vapor Monitor for Monitor Low Ambient Concentrations of VOCs
R828678C015 RIOPA Database Development
R828678C016 Contributions of Outdoor PM Sources to Indoor and Personal Exposures: Analysis of PM Species Concentrations” Focused on the PM Speciation and Apportioning of Sources
R828678C017 The Short and Long-Term Respiratory Effects of Exposure to PAHs from Traffic in a Cohort of Asthmatic Children

Top of page

The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.

Local Navigation

Jump to main content.