EDITORIAL

Nitrogen dioxide

Hypothesis: Ill health associated with low concentrations of nitrogen dioxide—an effect of ultrafine particles?

A Seaton, M Dennekamp

Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Aberdeen Medical School, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZP, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Professor A Seaton
Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Aberdeen Medical School, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZP, UK; a.seaton@abdn.ac.uk

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The epidemiological associations between illness and nitrogen dioxide may be the consequence of confounding by particle numbers

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Keywords: nitrogen dioxide; ultrafine particle; pollution

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In 1996 the Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards (EPAQS) recommended an ambient air standard for nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) in the UK of 150 ppb measured hourly.¹ This recommendation, like those for carbon monoxide (CO) and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) that had preceded it, was based on human toxicology rather than on epidemiology. The EPAQS was unable to find evidence that these gases were likely to be toxic to humans at the recommended concentrations. However, at the time of the NO₂ recommendation there was already epidemiological evidence that effects on populations rather than individuals might be associated with much lower concentrations and the EPAQS recommended that steps be taken to reduce annual average concentrations, although without proposing a long term standard. The UK government has subsequently adopted, as targets to be achieved by 2005, World Health Organization NO₂ guideline standards of 105 ppb (200 µg/m³) over . . . [Full text of this article]

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