City air pollution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other mutagens: occurrence, sources and health effects

The presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), mutagens and other air pollutants was investigated in a busy street in central Copenhagen and in a park area adjacent to the street. The winter concentration of benzo(a)pyrene was 4.4 ± 1.2 ng/m3 in the street air and 1.4 ± 0.6 ng/m3 in the city park. The atmospheric concentrations of PAH decreased in the order of: street > city background air ∼ suburbs > village > open land. The traffic contribution of PAH to street air was estimated to be 90% on working days and 60% during weekens and its contribution to city background air was estimated to be 40%. Four different approaches to evaluate the health effects are discussed. The direct effect of PAH air pollution, and other mutagens, is considered to be a maximum of five lung cancer cases each year out of one million people.