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Michael Brauer,¹ Thomas S. Dumyahn,² John D. Spengler,² Kersten Gutschmidt,³ Joachim Heinrich,³ and H.-Erich Wichmann³

¹Department of Respiratory Medicine, Occupational Hygiene Program, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3 Canada
²Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115 USA
³GSF-Institut fur Epidemiologie, Neuherberg, Germany

Abstract
A large number of studies have indicated associations between particulate air pollution and adverse health outcomes. Wintertime air pollution in particular has been associated with increased mortality. Identification of causal constituents of inhalable particulate matter has been elusive, although one candidate has been the acidity of the aerosol. Here we report measurements of acidic aerosol species made for approximately 1.5 years in Erfurt, Germany, and Sokolov, Czech Republic. In both locations, the burning of high-sulfur coal is the primary source of ambient air pollution. Twenty-four-hour average measurements were made for PM₁₀,[particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter (d_a) 10 µm], as well as fine particle (d_a <2.5 µm) H⁺ and SO₄^2- for the entire study. Additionally, separate day and night measurements of fine particle H⁺, SO₄^2-, NO₃^-, and NH₄⁺ and the gases, SO₂, HNO₃, HONO, and NH₃ were collected with an annular denuder/filter pack system over a 7-month (late winter-summer) period with additional measurements during pollution episodes the following winter. At both sites, 24-hr SO₂ (mean concentrations of 52 µg/m³, with peak levels of >585 µg/m³) and PM₁₀ (mean concentration 60 µg m³) concentrations were quite high. However, aerosol SO₄^2- concentrations (mean concentration of approximately 10 µg/m³) were not as great as expected given the high SO₂ concentrations, and acidity was very low (mean concentration of <1 µg/m³, with peak levels of only 7 µg/m³) . Low acidity is likely to be the result of NH₃ neutralization and slow conversion of SO₂ to SO₄^2-. These data, along with evidence that aerosol acidity exposures are significantly lower than ambient levels and the reported association between fine particulate air pollution and health outcomes in regions where little aerosol acidity has been measured, suggest that particulate acidity alone is not the primary component defining fine particulate air pollution toxicity. Key words: acid aerosols, air pollution, Eastern Europe, epidemiology, particulates. Environ Health Perspect 103:482-488 (1995)

Address correspondence to M. Brauer, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Occupational Hygiene Program, The University of British Columbia, 2206 East Mall, 366A,Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3 Canada.

Received 19 August 1994 ; accepted 15 February 1995.