Particulate Matter Science for Policy Makers: A NARSTO Assessment was commissioned by NARSTO, a cooperative public-private sector organization of Canada, Mexico and the United States. It is a concise and comprehensive discussion of the current understanding by atmospheric scientists of airborne particulate matter (PM). Its goal is to provide policy makers who implement air-quality standards with this relevant and needed scientific information. The primary audience for this volume will be regulators, scientists, and members of industry, all of whom have a stake in effective PM management. It will also inform exposure and health scientists, who investigate causal hypotheses of health impacts, characterize exposure, and conduct epidemiological and toxicological studies.

Written by an expert in the industry, this text addresses the specifics of contamination, including particle origination, characterization, identification, and elimination, with a special focus on quality. The author offers a clear and concise review of particle populations and their control in stability, efficacy, and predictability in the manufacture of healthcare products. He brings together information from over 100 Web sites and other sources and casts it into a practical framework that will help readers ensure their company's success. The book contains thirty-two color photomicrographs and over eighty figures, tables, and charts.

In 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established regulatory standards to address health risks posed by inhaling tiny particles from smoke, vehicle exhaust, and other sources. At the same time, Congress and the EPA began a multimillion dollar research effort to better understand the sources of these airborne particles, the levels of exposure to people, and the ways that these particles cause disease. To provide independent guidance to the EPA, Congress asked the National Research Council to study the relevant issues. The result was a series of four reports on the particulate-matter research program. The first two books offered a conceptual framework for a national research program, identified the 10 most critical research needs, and described the recommended timing and estimated costs of such research. The third volume began the task of assessing initial progress made in implementing the research program. This, the fourth and final volume, gauged research progress made over a 5-year period on each of the 10 research topics. The National Research Council concludes that particulate matter research has led to a better understanding of the health effects caused by tiny airborne particles. However, the EPA, in concert with other agencies, should continue research to reduce further uncertainties and inform long-term decisions.

New National Ambient Air Quality Standards for airborne particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers, called PM2.5, were issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) amidst scientific uncertainty and controversy. In response to a request from Congress, Research Priorities for Airborne Particulate Matter, the first of four books in a series, offers a conceptual framework for an integrated national program of particulate-matter research, identifies the 10 most critical research needs linked to key policy-related scientific uncertainties, and describes the recommended timing and estimated costs of such research. The committee concludes that EPA should devote more resources to investigating the relationships between fixed-site outdoor monitoring data and actual human breathing-zone exposures to ambient particulate matter and to identifying the most biologically important constituents and characteristics of particulate matter through toxicological studies. The recommended research activities are critical to determining actual exposures of human subpopulations most susceptible to harm from the most hazardous constituents of particulate matter. Future research will be an investment in public health and a means to ensure that resources spent on control technology and regulatory compliance will have a reasonable probability of success.

This book is about airborne particulate matter, sources, chemistry and health and contained a complete information about their emission source, transport, atmospheric chemistry, distribution at local, regional and global levels, and their level in indoor and outdoor settings. Primary and secondary particulate matters in the ambient atmosphere also describe in detail. Analytical techniques, statistical tools and mathematical models used in airborne particulate research is also described. This book also covers the important aspects of the particulate matter chemistry in atmosphere, and their adverse impact on plant and human health. A detailed insight about the harmful impact of airborne particulate matter (biogenic and anthropogenic both) on different human system is described in detail. The toxicological significance of particulate matter on human body was also mentioned. The mitigation, management and regulatory policies to control ambient particulate matter is also provided. This book is also written in simple language with helpful photographs, diagrams, tables and flowcharts which will make the reader comfortable in understanding the concepts a more relatively easier way. Overall, the present book is a valuable tool for students working in the fields of Atmospheric Science, Environmental Science, Biological Sciences, Epidemiology and Agriculture Science. This book also a unique resource for environmental consultants, researchers, policymakers and other professionals involved in air quality, plant and human health.

Air pollution originating from rapid industrialization, urbanization, population growth and economic development has disturbed the urban ecosystems of ecologically sensitive regions like the Indo-Burma hot spot, and they are under severe air pollution stress with limited resources to collect data on what is happening. Air pollutants comprised of both particulate matter (PM) and gaseous pollutants may cause adverse health effects in human, affect plant life and impact the global environment by changing the atmosphere of the earth. It is now well established that urban PM may also contain magnetic particles along with other air pollutants. Biomonitoring of PM through magnetic properties, known as biomagnetic monitoring, measures the magnetic parameters of dust loaded plant leaves, giving a new opportunity to monitor. Compared to existing conventional technologies, biomagnetic monitoring is an eco-friendly technique perfect in urban areas. Biomagnetic Monitoring of Particulate Matter reviews the issues with PM and the potential of these methods to on tropical vegetation on a variety of flora which represent the biodiversity of the Indo-Burma Hot Spot. - Bio-magnetic Monitoring of Particulate Matter gives a comprehensive overview of the issue of particulate pollution and monitoring - Cases of magnetic biomonitoring across different environments are included to demonstrate this emerging technique as a way to measure particulate pollution - Coverage includes a comparison to other techniques as well as why it works well ecological diverse developing areas which are data scarce, like the Indo-Burma Hot Spot - A review of the detrimental health impacts of Particulate Matter reinforces the importance for this type of data to be available universally

This book presents the most up-to-date research and information regarding the origin, chemistry, fate and health impacts of airborne particulate matter in urban areas, a topic which has received a great deal of attention in recent years due to documented relationships between exposure and health effects such as asthma. With internationally recognised researchers and academics presenting their work and key concepts and approaches from a variety of disciplines, including environmental and analytical chemistry, biology, toxicology, mineralogy and the geosciences, this book addresses the topic of urban airborne particulate matter in a comprehensive, multidisciplinary manner. Topics and research addressed in the book range from common methodological approaches used to sample and analyse the composition of airborne particulates to our knowledge regarding their potential to impact human health and the various policy approaches taken internationally to regulate particulate matter levels.