Public health implications of particulate matter inside bus terminals in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Autor(es)

Nogueira, Thiago ^{[1, 2, 3]} ; Kumar, Prashant ^{[3, 4]} ; Nardocci, Adelaide ^[1] ; Andrade, Maria de Fatima ^[2]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Saude Ambiental, Fac Saude Publ, Av Dr Arnaldo 715, BR-01246904 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Dept Ciencias Atmosfer, Inst Astron Geofis & Ciencias Atmosfer IAG, BR-05508090 Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[3] Univ Surrey, Fac Engn & Phys Sci, GCARE, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, Guildford GU2 7XH, Surrey - England

^[4] Trinity Coll Dublin, Sch Engn, Dept Civil Struct & Environm Engn, Dublin - Ireland

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: Science of The Total Environment; v. 711, APR 1 2020.
• Citações Web of Science: 0

Resumo

Good quality ambient air is recognised as an important factor of social justice. In addition, providing access to high-capacity public transportation in big cities is known to be a good practice of social equity, as well as economic and environmental sustainability. However, the health risks associated with air pollution are not distributed equally across cities; the most vulnerable people are more exposed to ambient air as they commute to work and wait for buses or trains at the stations. The overall goal of this work was to assess the determinants of human exposure to particulate matter (PM) during commuting time spent inside bus terminals in the Metropolitan Area of Sao Paulo (MASP), in Brazil. Fine and coarse particles were collected at four bus terminals in the MASP. The concentrations of PM and its harmful constituents (black carbon and metals) were used in order to estimate potential doses and the associated health risk during the time spent at bus terminals in the MASP. Our findings show that bus commuters travelling through the bus terminal in the MASP on weekdays inhaled up to 94% higher doses of PM10 than did those travelling outside the terminal; even on weekends, that difference was as high as 88%. Our risk assessment indicated that time spent inside a bus terminal can result in an intolerable health risk for commuters, mainly because of the Cr present in fine particles. Although bus commuters are exposed to fine particle concentrations up to 2 times lower than the worldwide average, we can affirm that inhalable particles in the MASP bus terminals pose a high carcinogenic risk to the daily users of those terminals, mainly those in the most susceptible groups, which include people with heart or lung disease, older adults and children. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 15/50128-9 - Astrid - accessibility, social justice and transport emission impacts of transit-oriented development strategies
• Beneficiário: Adalgiza Fornaro
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Temático
• Processo FAPESP: 18/07848-9 - Perfis químicos e toxicológicos de fontes de matéria particulada em atmosfera urbana
• Beneficiário: Maria de Fátima Andrade
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 16/18438-0 - Área Metropolitana de São Paulo: abordagem integrada mudanças climáticas e qualidade do ar, METROCLIMA MASP
• Beneficiário: Maria de Fátima Andrade
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Programa de Pesquisa sobre Mudanças Climáticas Globais - Temático