An evaluation of resident exposure to respirable particulate matter and health economic loss in Beijing during Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.12.030

Science of The Total Environment

Volume 408, Issue 19, 1 September 2010, Pages 4026-4032

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2009.12.030 Get rights and content

Abstract

Previous epidemiological studies showed that air pollutants, especially respirable particulate matter, including PM₁₀, could impose harmful effects on human health. The assessment of the effects of PM₁₀ on mortality and morbidity makes an important basis for enhancing pollution control efforts, and for protecting public health. In this study, we measured the levels of Beijing residents' exposure to PM₁₀ during three different time periods around the Beijing Olympic Games held in 2008, and calculated the economic cost associated with human health. A comparative analysis of human exposure to PM₁₀ and associated health economics was also made to see the difference between 2005 and 2008. GIS technology was employed to interpolate the distribution of population and PM₁₀ data collected by 27 stations at a scale of 1 km × 1 km. Study results show that Beijing's population is distributed in a highly inhomogeneous manner, with the majority of people dwelling in the city proper. During the Olympic Games, population-weighted PM₁₀ exposure came down by 46% and 19% respectively, compared with the pre-OG and the post-OG periods. Consequently, the economic cost associated with human health during the Games came down by 38% and 16% respectively, compared with the pre-OG and the post-OG periods. Comparative analysis shows that during the Olympic Games, both PM₁₀ and the economic cost associated with health as a proportion of GDP sat at the bottom of the 4-year statistics, indicating that in addition to favorable weather conditions, enhanced traffic and emission control policies and measures have produced a noticeable effect on PM₁₀ reduction.

Introduction

The accelerated industrialization and urbanization has cost the atmospheric environment dearly. According to the estimates made by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2002), urban air pollution would result in an annual loss of 800,000 human lives and cutting down people's life expectancy by 4.6 million lives across the world. Previous epidemiological studies showed that atmospheric particulate matter, especially respirable particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 um (PM₁₀), has a direct negative bearing on human health (Yuan and Dong, 2006). In this context, international organizations concerned, including WHO, EPA, and the EU, have made particulates an indicator for assessing the possible harmful effects of air pollution on human health.

Numerous overseas findings have proved that the increase of adult mortality and morbidity is evidently associated with the raised level of air particulates pollution (Schwartz, 1994, Pope et al., 1995a, Pope et al., 1995b). Particulates can provoke both acute and chronic bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia, lung cancer, and other respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and are particularly harmful to elderly people and children (Nevalainen and Pekkanen, 1998, Zanobetti, 2000).Other studies (Samet et al., 2000) concluded that PM₁₀ was strongly associated with the mortality of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. For example, when PM₁₀ concentration increased by 10 μg/m³, the total mortality would go up by 0.51%, and the mortality of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases would rise by 0.68%.

In China, He et al. (1994) pointed out in the early 1980s that the mortality of lung cancer in Chinese urban areas was correlated with the level of air pollution. In 1994, the then Chinese State Environmental Protection Administration, in collaboration with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), launched a project to study the “impacts of air pollution on human respiratory health” in 4 Chinese cities, including Guangzhou, Wuhan, Lanzhou, and Chongqing, The results derived from multi-year tracking study showed that the concentration of air particulates (especially fine particulates) was significantly correlated with children's pulmonary malfunctions (Wei et al., 2001). Epidemiological surveys conducted in Beijing also indicated that the raised level of air particulates could result in more mortality and outpatients (Xu et al., 1994, Xu et al., 1995a, Xu et al., 1995b).

In the last decade, Beijing's air quality has witnessed steady improvements. The improvement was first seen as the result of pollution control efforts made during the period of 1998–2007. PM₁₀, SO₂, and NO₂ concentration came down by 19.8%, 60.8%, and 39.4% respectively, with SO₂, NO₂, and NO having reached the control threshold defined by the national authorities (BMEPB, 1999–2007).The improvement was further felt in the first half of 2008, thanks to enhanced pollution control efforts and new environment criteria staged before the Olympic Games. The efforts had cut down the concentration of SO₂, NO, NO₂ by 20%, and PM₁₀ by 21%.The period starting from July 1st, 2008 marked an intensified effort to improve Beijing's air quality by shutting down heavy polluters, which resulted in a further emission reduction by 30%. 3.3 million motor vehicles were removed from city streets on alternate days, depending on whether the license plate ended in an odd or even number during the period of July 20 to Sep. 20, 2008. During the period, the adjacent cities and provinces also did their best to close down major polluters that may have an impact on the air quality of Beijing. The unprecedented strict pollution control measures have drastically cut off the source emissions, making a green Olympic Games possible (http://www.beijing2008.cn/).

Beijing's air quality was intensively monitored by environment protection authorities and research institutions before, during, and after the Olympic Games. The rich scientific data collected during the period have become solid evidences for judging the impact of exposure to air pollution on human health.

This study tries to understand the implications of pollution control measures on human exposure level, through comparing the PM₁₀ and human population data collected in different time periods, with the help of GIS technology. Efforts have also been made to find out the correlations between air pollution exposure-response function and human health economic costs, in an attempt to provide scientific evidences for working out more effective air pollution control policies, protecting people's health, and reducing the economic cost associated with health.

Section snippets

Population and PM₁₀ concentration

PM₁₀ concentration data cited in the paper was collected by the monitoring stations under the Beijing Municipal Environment Protection Bureau (BMEPB) from 2005 to 2008. 6 PM₁₀ monitoring stations, including DingLing, a background station located in the northwest of Beijing, and the stations sitting across the urban districts, offered the data running from 2005 to 2007 (Fig. 1a). 2008 made a good year for monitoring efforts, as the monitoring stations went up to 27 in number, evenly distributed

Human exposure to PM₁₀

Human exposure to PM₁₀ would see an increase in concentration, though to different extent, when population was weighted (Table 5). The averaged population-weighted exposure dropped by 46% and 19% respectively, compared with the pre-OG and post-OG periods, indicating that Beijing residents were least exposed to PM₁₀ during the Olympic Games, where motor vehicles were only allowed to hit the road on odd or even days depending on the number of their license plates.

Economic cost associated with health

One can estimate the averaged

Assessment of human exposure to PM₁₀ and associated health economic cost in the same period of 2005–2008

Beijing's PM₁₀ usually sits at the bottom in concentration during the period of July and August. The 2 months take up 75% of the city's annual rainfall, which plays the role of a scavenging brush. Additionally, dust weathers left a high PM₁₀ concentration for the pre-OG period. It is, therefore, necessary to compare human exposure and health economic cost occurred in the past (the period from Jul. 20 to Sep. 20, 2005–2007), in a bid to objectively assess the implications of pollution control

Conclusions

In the study, efforts were made to assess human exposure to PM₁₀ and associated health economic cost in Beijing, before, during, and after the Olympic Games, based on the data collected by 27 monitoring sites across the Beijing area. GIS technology based assessment showed that Beijing had a heavy PM₁₀ pollution, though enhanced traffic control and emission reduction measures have confined the pollution to a low level. After the Olympic Games, the Beijing Municipal Government imposed a policy to

Acknowledgements

The study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China (40875086) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (2006CB403703). The authors are indebted to anonymous referees for their valuable comments.

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An evaluation of resident exposure to respirable particulate matter and health economic loss in Beijing during Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Population and PM10 concentration

Human exposure to PM10

Economic cost associated with health

Assessment of human exposure to PM10 and associated health economic cost in the same period of 2005–2008

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Sci Total Environ

Environ Res

Sci Total Environ

Beijing statistical yearbook

Annual report

Benefits of expanded use of natural gas for pollutant reduction and health improvement in Shanghai

Sinosphere J

Report of the Second National Health Service Survey [in Chinese]

China statistical yearbook of public health

An association between air pollution and mortality in six US cities

New Engl J Med