Criteria and methods for establishing maximum permissible concentrations of air pollution

摘要

The article describes experience in the USSR in establishing standards for air pollution control. The author emphasizes that health considerations must be the main criterion in deciding permissible concentrations, which constitute the “hygienic” standards ultimately to be achieved. Economic and technological reasons may dictate temporary “sanitary” standards, which modify the requirements for a limited period. “Technological” standards relate to the economic and technological consequences of air pollution and do not concern health.The maximum permissible concentrations of toxic substances used in toxicology and industrial hygiene are not sufficiently stringent for general use, and control standards are therefore based on the results of tests carried out on animals and human subjects.Tests on animals show that certain concentrations of toxic substances cause functional changes (e.g., in higher nervous activity, cholinesterase activity, and excretion of coproporphyrin) as well as a number of protective adaptational reactions. The results are used to establish maximum permissible concentrations of pollutants within a 24-hour period.Tests on human volunteers provide a basis for determining the maximum average concentrations at a given time. Reactions to odorous substances give the olfactory threshold and the level of concentration causing respiratory and visual reflexes, as well as subsensory effects such as changes in light sensitivity and in the activity of the cerebral cortex.Morbidity statistics also provide evidence of harmful pollution, but cannot serve as a basis for establishing maximum permissible concentrations, which should aim not only at preventing illness but also at avoiding pathological and adaptational reactions.