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Kelly JM, Ivatt PD, Evans MJ, et al. Global Cancer Risk From Unregulated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons. Geohealth. 2021;5(9):e2021GH000401doi: 10.1029/2021GH000401.
Kelly, J. M., Ivatt, P. D., Evans, M. J., Kroll, J. H., Hrdina, A. I. H., Kohale, I. N., White, F. M., Engelward, B. P., & Selin, N. E. (2021). Global Cancer Risk From Unregulated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons. GeoHealth, 5(9), e2021GH000401. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GH000401
Kelly, Jamie M, et al. "Global Cancer Risk From Unregulated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons." GeoHealth vol. 5,9 (2021): e2021GH000401. doi: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GH000401
Kelly JM, Ivatt PD, Evans MJ, Kroll JH, Hrdina AIH, Kohale IN, White FM, Engelward BP, Selin NE. Global Cancer Risk From Unregulated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons. Geohealth. 2021 Sep 01;5(9):e2021GH000401. doi: 10.1029/2021GH000401. eCollection 2021 Sep. PMID: 34589640; PMCID: PMC8460132.
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Geohealth. 2021 Sep 01;5(9):e2021GH000401. doi: 10.1029/2021GH000401. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Global Cancer Risk From Unregulated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.

GeoHealth

Jamie M Kelly, Peter D Ivatt, Mathew J Evans, Jesse H Kroll, Amy I H Hrdina, Ishwar N Kohale, Forest M White, Bevin P Engelward, Noelle E Selin

Affiliations

  1. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USA.
  2. Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories Department of Chemistry University of York York UK.
  3. National Centre for Atmospheric Science Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories University of York York UK.
  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USA.
  5. Department of Biological Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USA.
  6. David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USA.
  7. Center for Precision Cancer Medicine Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USA.
  8. Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge MA USA.

PMID: 34589640 PMCID: PMC8460132 DOI: 10.1029/2021GH000401

Abstract

In assessments of cancer risk from atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), scientists and regulators rarely consider the complex mixture of emitted compounds and degradation products, and they often represent the entire mixture using a single emitted compound-benzo[a]pyrene. Here, we show that benzo[a]pyrene is a poor indicator of PAH risk distribution and management: nearly 90% of cancer risk worldwide results from other PAHs, including unregulated degradation products of emitted PAHs. We develop and apply a global-scale atmospheric model and conduct health impact analyses to estimate human cancer risk from 16 PAHs and several of their N-PAH degradation products. We find that benzo[a]pyrene is a minor contributor to the total cancer risks of PAHs (11%); the remaining risk comes from other directly emitted PAHs (72%) and N-PAHs (17%). We show that assessment and policy-making that relies solely on benzo[a]pyrene exposure provides misleading estimates of risk distribution, the importance of chemical processes, and the prospects for risk mitigation. We conclude that researchers and decision-makers should consider additional PAHs as well as degradation products.

© 2021 The Authors. GeoHealth published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Geophysical Union.

Keywords: air pollution; benzo[a]pyrene; cancer; human health; mixtures; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this study.

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