Publications

Human exposure to carbon monoxide can occur from automobile emissions, industrial processes, sidestream or mainstream cigarette smoke, and poorly ventilated appliances such as space heaters and gas stoves. Most researchers consider the major mechanism for the toxicity of carbon monoxide to be its ability to compete with oxygen for binding to hemoglobin, the protein that transports oxygen through the bloodstream and releases it to cells and tissues.

Ozone and nitrogen dioxide are highly reactive oxidant gases that are derived from the combustion of fossil fuels and the atmospheric transformation of these combustion products. A major unanswered question is whether or not exposure to oxidant air pollutants contributes to lung cancer. Dr. Witschi and colleagues at the University of California at Davis examined whether exposure to ozone or nitrogen dioxide enhances the development of tumors induced by the chemical carcinogen diethylnitrosamine (DEN), particularly neuroendocrine tumors, in the respiratory tract of hamsters.

Communication 2 provides information to decision makers on research that is potentially capable of narrowing uncertainties related to the health effects of specific air toxics. This report is based on the Mobile Air Toxics Workshop held in Monterey, CA, December 4–6 1992.

This publications contains two reports by Drs. Jonathan M. Samet, John D. Spengler, and colleagues, who conducted a prospective investigation of 1,205 healthy infants living in homes with gas or electric stoves in Albuquerque, NM. Nitrogen dioxide exposures were carefully estimated from repeated measurements in multiple locations in the subjects' homes throughout the entire 18-month observation period. Respiratory illnesses were monitored prospectively using a surveillance system based on daily parental diaries of respiratory signs and symptoms. Parental reports of illness episodes were validated in a subset of the population by comparison with clinical diagnoses and microbiological testing. Potential confounding factors that influence respiratory infections were reduced by selecting subjects whose parents did not smoke or intend to use day-care services outside the home.