Overview of the Mission, Goals, Current, and Future Research Lata Shirnam

1
Overview of the Mission, Goals,Current, and
Future Research Lata Shirnamé-Moré, Ph.D.

• Air Toxics Workshop What We Know,
• What We Dont Know, and
• What We Need to Know
• October 17-18, 2005
•     University of Houston Hilton Houston, Texas

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NUATRC Origin and Organization

• Authorized by Congress in the 1990 Clean Air Act
  Amendments to address residual public health
  risks to urban air toxics.
• Established as a public/private research
  organization to sponsor research on human health
  effects of air toxics.
• Led by a nine member Board of Directors appointed
  by the President, Senate Majority Leader, and
  Speaker of the House of Representatives.
• Advised on the peer-reviewed research program by
  an expert Scientific Advisory Panel.
• Congressionally funded via EPA and the private
  sector.

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Main Elements of NUATRC Research Mission

• To develop and support research on potential
  risks posed to human health by exposure to air
  toxics
• Research program developed by scientific experts
  from academia, industry and government
• Fill the gaps in scientific data in order to be
  able to make sound environmental health policy
  decisions
• Fulfill mission by contributing meaningful and
  relevant data to the peer-reviewed scientific
  literature

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Current Scientific Advisory Panel

• John C. Bailar III
• University of Chicago
• Michael Brauer
• University of British Columbia
• James J. Collins Chair
• Dow Chemical Company
• Michael L. Cunningham
• NIEHS
• David H. Garabrant
• University of Michigan
• Bert Hakkinen
• European Commission

• Dennis Pagano
• US EPA OAPQS
• Dennis J. Paustenbach
• Chemrisk, Inc.
• Bertram Price
• Price Associates, Inc.
• Joel Schwartz
• Harvard University
• Linda Sheldon
• US EPA
• Moderating Air Toxics Workshop Panel

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Research and Review Process Quality and
Availability of Scientific Data Major
Priorities for Center-Sponsored Studies

• The SAP with NUATRC Staff input selects areas of
  specific research
• The awards are made via a peer-reviewed process
  following NIH guidelines
• The funded studies are overseen by SAP subgroups,
  which monitor progress, make suggestions for
  improvement to produce research of highest
  scientific quality and integrity that can be
  published in the peer-reviewed literature
• The SAP advises on dissemination of the study
  results to all stake holders.

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NUATRC Research Goals

• Strategic Research Focus
• Personal Exposure to Air Toxics
• Focus on non-cancer health effects respiratory,
  cardiopulmonary, immune and developmental
• Four Research Goals Core Areas Identified
• Personal Exposure Assessment
• Technology Development
• Human Health Effects
• Involvement of Communities

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Personal Exposure Assessment

• NUATRC-NCHS- NHANES Collaborative VOC Exposure
  Project
• Individual VOC exposure data in 1000 person
  subset of 20,000 person national study
  population.
• Obtain profile of VOC personal exposures in a
  national population.
• Urban Air Toxics Exposure of High School Children
  (TEACH Study) (Columbia University)
• Descriptive data for minority children living in
  the central core neighborhood of two largest
  urban areas of the United States
• Relationship Between Indoor, Outdoor, and
  Personal Air (RIOPA) (EOHSI)
• Experimental study of people living downwind of
  air toxics emission sources in Elizabeth, NJ,
  Houston, TX, Los Angeles, CA Co-sponsored by HEI

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Relationship between Indoor, Outdoor and Personal
Air (RIOPA)

• The Houston RIOPA Component University of Texas
  Houston Health Science Center, School of Public
  Health, Drs. Morandi and Stock, PI.
• Overall Objectives
• Investigate the relationships of indoor, outdoor,
  and personal air concentrations of VOCs, carbonyl
  compounds, and PM2.5, and in-vehicle
  concentrations of carbonyl compounds.
• Quantify the outdoor contribution to indoor and
  personal air concentrations of the measured
  pollutants.
• Specific Aims
• Compare indoor, outdoor, and personal air (and
  in-vehicle for carbonyl compounds) concentrations
  of the pollutants measured in the RIOPA.
• Examine the effects of a number of variables
  (e.g., season, house type, city/state) on
  measured concentrations and indoor/outdoor
  relationships.
• Quantify the contribution of outdoor sources to
  indoor concentrations.
• Determine indoor source strengths of the measured
  pollutants that are primarily generated indoors.

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Air Toxics Measured

• Volatile Organic
• Compounds
• 1,3-butadiene
• Methylene chloride
• Methyl tert butyl ether
• Chloroprene
• Chloroform
• Carbon tetrachloride
• Benzene
• Trichloroethylene
• Toluene
• Tetrachloroethylene
• Ethyl benzene
• o,m p-xylenes
• Styrene
• 1,4-dichlorobenzene
• d-limonene
• a- and ß-pinene

• Carbonyl
• Compounds
• Formaldehyde
• Acetaldehyde
• Acrolein
• Crotonaldehyde
• Glyoxal
• Methylglyoxal
• Acetone
• Propionaldehyde
• Benzaldehyde
• Hexaldehyde
• Isovaleraldehyde
• Valeraldehyde
• o-tolualdehyde
• mp-tolualdehyde

• PM
• Components
• PM2.5

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Final Report

• Detailed data collection methods and quality
  control measures
• Descriptive analyses of data distributions and
  relationships among indoor, outdoor, personal
  and in-vehicle concentrations, using the pooled
  dataset
• Data distribution by city, season, house-type,
  personal concentrations
• Indoor source strengths and relative
  contributions of outdoor sources to measured
  indoor concentrations on a home-by-home basis.
• (Indoor concentrations, outdoor concentrations,
  air exchange rates, and room volumes were
  simultaneously measured.)

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Wealth of Information from RIOPA Study

• Information on study population
• Age, gender, housing type, volume, employment
  status geographic identifiers, questionnaire
  data-activity pattern data, residential
  ventilation system type and usage, indoor sources
• Information on measured concentrations
• VOCs, Carbonyls, PM (PM2.5 mass, EC/OC) PAHs
  (total gas and particulate, elemental
  composition residential air exchange rates)
• Information of measured concentration by various
  factors
• Season, by proximity to different source types
  by housing type/features, by air exchange rate
  ranges ventilation system type/use, etc.
• In-vehicle concentrations by season, traffic
  density indicators
• Personal concentrations by age/gender categories,
  by employment status, by time spent
  indoors/outdoors/in-vehicles

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Future Research Personal Exposure Assessment

• Further analysis of RIOPA, TEACH, and NHANES
• Examination of exposures is representative
  samples
• Development of innovative and cost-effective
  methods for these measurements
• Studies in defined or susceptible populations or
  demographic subgroups
• Determine what is driving their exposures their
  susceptibility age, exposure factors, their
  residence, socioeconomics.
• Source based studies
• Focus on chemical from the same source, rather
  than individual or suite of chemicals from
  different sources, and identify potential
  exposures
• Evaluate and refine models
• Compare EPA model prediction data with personal
  exposure data.

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Technology Development

• Development of a New Generation Personal Sampler
  Cascade Impactor Sampler for Particulate Matter,
  the Sioutas Sampler (USC)
• Development of a High Efficiency Pump for the
  Personal Particulate Matter Sampler The Leland
  Legacy Pump (SKC, Inc.)

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Leland Legacy Pump used in a US Army Deployable
Kit

• The US Army needed a small kit that was
  deployable for the soldiers in the Persian Gulf
  exposed to sandstorms and PM10.
• The Army liked the Leland Legacy Pump because of
  the 24-hour capabilities of the battery operated
  pump and its light weight. 

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Future Research Technology Development

• New micro sensors and nano or wireless technology
  
• For monitoring personal exposure to chemical
  toxicants
• Piggyback on existing breakthroughs in medical
  technology to determine exposures or key
  metabolites that are predictors of exposure or
  disease, respectively.
• Development of novel methods that can link
  different environmental databases
• With the availability of fast internet connection
  link air toxics exposure and monitoring data
  bases to other global and satellite databases.
• Development of novel markers of exposures.

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Linking Exposures to Health Effects

• Cardiopulmonary Responses to Particulate Matter
  (Harvard School of Public Health)
• Prospective epidemiological study to investigate
  role of PM2.5 and associated metals (V, Ni, Cd,
  Mn, Cr Fe) in respiratory and cardiovascular
  responses in a cohort of boilermakers with and
  without chronic bronchitis will assess several
  biological parameters in relation to real time
  personal exposure
• Testing the Metals Hypothesis in Spokane
  (Washington State University)
• Seven year time series study examine
  associations between fine PM metal content and
  health endpoints apportion sources elderly
  people and individuals with asthma
• ATAC Air Toxics and Asthma in Children
  (University of Texas, SPH)
• Association Between Exposures to Oxygenated Air
  Toxics and Asthma An Exposure and Health Effects
  Study of Houston Area School Children.

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ATAC Air Toxics and Asthma in Children

• University of Texas, Houston Health Science
  Center, School of Public Heath Dr. George
  Delclos , PI.
• The primary study objectives are
• To evaluate the association between personal air
  concentrations of total carbonyls and variability
  of lung function (peak expiratory flow rate
  PEFR and forced expired volume in the first
  second FEV1) in a sample of middle school
  children with labile, persistent asthma.
• To evaluate the association between personal air
  concentrations of total carbonyls and the
  variability of selected clinical indicators
  (asthma symptoms and medication use) in a sample
  of middle school children with labile, persistent
  asthma.

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Future Research Linking Health to Exposures

• Potential associations between personal exposure
  data and health status data collected in the
  NHANES Project.
• Health effects due to air toxics exposures may
  not be population wide, but only in certain
  groups, for example the upper tail of exposure or
  those in hotspots
• Association between exposure to air toxics and
  proximity to vehicular traffic and potential
  health effects as a result of exposures.
• Develop and conduct short term research projects
  on health effects associated with exposures to
  air toxics during fetal, perinatal and infant
  periods.
• Relationship between changes in sources of
  exposure and health.
• Impact of mitigation on exposures and health.

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Community Based Projects

• VOC Exposure in an Industry Impacted Community
  (Johns Hopkins)
• Personal, indoor, outdoor VOC measurements in 40
  South Baltimore homes measurement of urinary
  benzene biomarker apportionment of sources.
• Source Apportionment of Indoor PAHs in Urban
  Residences, (University of Illinois)
• Measurement of 16 PAHs in indoor outdoor
  residential environments
• Impact of Exposure to Urban Air Toxics on Asthma
  Utilization for the Pediatric Medicaid Population
  in Dearborn, (Michigan Department of Community
  Health)
• Assess the relationship between exposures to
  ambient air toxics measured by outdoor air
  monitors, and utilization of urgent care
  facilities by children enrolled in Medicaid in
  Dearborn, Michigan
• A Pilot Geospatial Analysis of Exposure to Air
  Pollutants and Hospital Admissions in Harris
  County, Texas (Baylor College of Medicine,
  Houston, TX)
• Study potential spatial relationships between
  hospital admissions and air pollution, due to air
  toxics, in Harris Count

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A Pilot Geospatial Analysis of Exposure to Air
Pollutants and Hospital Admissions in Harris
County Texas

• Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, P.I. Dr.
  W. Hamilton
• Study goal is to analyze potential spatial
  relationships between hospital admissions and air
  pollution due to air toxics in Harris County, TX
• Hypothesis The rate of Harris County residents
  hospitalized during the study period differs
  geographically among the 337 4 x 4 km domains,
  and correlates with exposure to modeled air
  pollutants, after adjusting for available
  individual and domain-specific demographic
  confounders.
• Uses US EPAs Community Multiscale Air Quality
  with Air Toxics (CMAQ-AT) model to estimate
  pollutant concentrations and the ArcGIS
  geospatial modeling software to extract and or
  combine exposure, admissions and demographic
  data.

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Symposia and Workshops

• NUATRC Symposium on Effects of Air Pollution on
  the Health of Older Adults June 2005,
  Washington DC.
• Examine the trends of environmental exposures to
  toxics air pollutants that the elderly are
  exposed to in their daily environments.
• Determine the potential health risks as a result
  of these exposures.
• Determine measures that can be taken to prevent
  or reduce these exposures.
• Air Toxics Workshop What We Know, What We Dont
  Know, and What We Need to Know, Oct 14-15, 2005,
  Houston, TX.

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Publications

• NUATRC Research Reports 7
• Total Peer-reviewed Publications - 44
• University of Texas, Houston, Health Science
  Center Development of Passive Monitor for
  Volatile Organic Compounds 2
• Environmental and Occupational Health Science
  Institute (EOHSI) Relationship between Indoor,
  Outdoor and Personal Air RIOPA Study P.I.
  Clifford P. Weisel 7
• Harvard University Cardiopulmonary Response to
  Particulate Exposure, P.I. David Christiani 6
• Johns Hopkins University VOC Exposure in an
  Industry Impacted Community P.I. Timothy
  Buckley 2

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Publications (continued)

• Washington State University Testing the Metals
  Hypothesis in Spokane- P.I. Dr. Candis Claiborn
  5
• University of Illinois at Chicago Source
  Apportionment of Indoor PAHs in Urban Residences
  P.I. Dr. An Li 3
• Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia
  University, Exposures to Air Toxics Among
  Teenagers in New York City and Los Angeles
  Columbia Harvard Study TEACH, P.I. Dr. Patrick
  Kinney 4
• USC Development of a New Generation Personal
  Sampler for Particulate Matter P.I. Dr.
  Constantinos Sioutas 3
• NUATRC Sponsored Symposia - 5

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Summary

• The Mickey Leland National Urban Air Toxics
  Research Center contributes significantly to
  personal exposure approaches which will help
  reduce uncertainty in future risk assessments at
  multiple scales.
• Air Toxics Research Strategy, U.S. EPA
• Centers unique position as a public-private
  partnership allows discourse with various
  stakeholders affected by air quality research
• These dialogues are not only important in
  determining research areas of common interest,
  but can foster better understanding and
  acceptance of the results