Earlier this week our Green Piece Column examined the adverse effects of vehicle emissions on human health (see article) and now a new study indicates that exposure to road traffic and air pollution may be prompting several cardiovascular events.
According to a study led by scientists at theUniversityofEdinburgh, combustion-derived ultra-fine particles from diesel fuel are the main mediators, harming blood vessels and increasing the chances of blood clots forming in the arteries and potentially leading to heart attacks and strokes.
The scientists measured the impact of diesel exhaust fumes on healthy volunteers at levels that would be found in heavily polluted cities and compared how people reacted to gases such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. The study showed that particles, not the gases, impaired the function of blood vessels that control how blood is channelled to the body’s organs.
It is already believed that a number of pollutants in diesel exhaust emissions are harmful to human health – including fine particles, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and volatile organic compounds. Now the present study has been designed to determine the role of nano-particulate emissions and whether the organic and inorganic surface compounds or the carbonaceous particles themselves are the main cause of the adverse cardiovascular effects.
The researchers suggested that a better understanding of the detrimental components of diesel exhaust particulate is needed for future evaluations of technologies designed to modify vehicle exhaust emissions.
