AAAR 33rd Annual Conference
October 20 - October 24, 2014
Rosen Shingle Creek
Orlando, Florida, USA
Abstract View
Health Implications Of Aerosols from Asbestos-Bearing Road Pavements Traditionally Used in Southern Brazil
RICARDO H. M. GODOI, Sérgio J. Gonçalves Jr., Célia Sayama, José M. Reis Neto, László Bencs, Bálint Alföldy, René Van Grieken, Carlos A. Riedi, Ana Flavia L. Godoi, Guillherme C. Borillo, Yara S. Tadano, Federal University of Parana - Curitiba, PR, Brazil
Abstract Number: 285 Working Group: Health Related Aerosols
Abstract Asbestos is worldwide recognized as a public health problem due to its carcinogenic potential and for this reason many countries have banned their industrial processing and usage. Many localized communities worldwide are continuously exposed to Naturally Occurring Asbestos (NOA), in areas for which the potential health hazard is still unknown. Chemical characteristics and composition of atmospheric aerosols (bulk, size-segregated and single particle) were assessed in a specific exposure area of Piên, Paraná State, Southern Brazil, where a large amount of ultramafic rocks (NOA, bearing serpentinite belts and their associated soils) have been used for decades as road paving in rural areas, without awareness of their adverse environmental impact. Inhalable particulate matter was continuously collected at two sites (Crispins’ Meadow and Maias’ Meadow) over the most traffic demanding countryside road during two-week-long sampling campaigns. The elemental composition of individual particles and bulk PM was analysed by means of electron probe microanalysis and energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence, respectively. A large number of the analyzed single particles (~700), were identified as the microfibrillar morphology, consistent with the mineral chrysotile (white asbestos). A lung deposition model estimated the deposition of asbestos at various parts of the human respiratory airways. Calculations revealed that most particles gather in the extrathoracic region. Due to the occurrence of inhalable suspended chrysotile near local roads and the long-term exposure, it can apparently trigger an increased risk of lung cancer development in the population of the studied region. This finding indicates that NOA should be recognized and treated as a large-scale environmental health problem, which affects the life-quality and health of the population in developing as well as developed countries. Government authorities need to take geological factors into account to reduce the likelihood of unplanned disturbance of environments containing natural asbestos-bearing materials.