Diseases related to the air pollution caused by road transport affect tens of thousands of people in the WHO Europe region each year. This publication considers the policy challenges involved in the need to reduce the related risks to public health and the environment, whilst meeting socio-economic requirements for effective transport systems. It sets out a systematic review of the literature and a comprehensive evaluation of the health hazards of transport-related air pollution, including factors determining emissions, the contribution of traffic to pollution levels, human exposure and the results of epidemiological and toxicological studies to identify and measure the health effects, and suggestions for policy actions and further research.

Traffic-Related Air Pollution synthesizes and maps TRAP and its impact on human health at the individual and population level. The book analyzes mitigating standards and regulations with a focus on cities. It provides the methods and tools for assessing and quantifying the associated road traffic emissions, air pollution, exposure and population-based health impacts, while also illuminating the mechanisms underlying health impacts through clinical and toxicological research. Real-world implications are set alongside policy options, emerging technologies and best practices. Finally, the book recommends ways to influence discourse and policy to better account for the health impacts of TRAP and its societal costs. - Overviews existing and emerging tools to assess TRAP's public health impacts - Examines TRAP's health effects at the population level - Explores the latest technologies and policies--alongside their potential effectiveness and adverse consequences--for mitigating TRAP - Guides on how methods and tools can leverage teaching, practice and policymaking to ameliorate TRAP and its effects

Outdoor air pollution kills more than 3 million people across the world every year, and causes health problems from asthma to heart disease for many more. This is costing societies very large amounts in terms of the value of lives lost and ill health. Based on extensive new epidemiological evidence since the 2010 Global Burden of Disease study, and OECD estimates of the Value of Statistical Life, this report provides evidence on the health impacts from air pollution and the related economic costs.

"The combination of scientific and institutional integrity represented by this book is unusual. It should be a model for future endeavors to help quantify environmental risk as a basis for good decisionmaking." â€"William D. Ruckelshaus, from the foreword. This volume, prepared under the auspices of the Health Effects Institute, an independent research organization created and funded jointly by the Environmental Protection Agency and the automobile industry, brings together experts on atmospheric exposure and on the biological effects of toxic substances to examine what is knownâ€"and not knownâ€"about the human health risks of automotive emissions.

This book brings together the scientific evidence on the main effects of transport on human health and the environment. It sets the conceptual framework for future analyses of the health burden and health gains from transport policies. It outlines how these health concerns have been reflected in policy tools such as impact assessment, regulation and economic analysis, and identifies the areas where action is most needed. Discussions of the environment and health effects of transport need to be communicated in a way that is relevant for policy-makers and easily understood by nonscientists. That is the aim of this book, which summarizes the results of extensive reviews of the issues prepared by groups of prominent international experts. It is also planned to release the reviews themselves, to give a more detailed account of the scientific evidence. [Foreword]

Incineration has been used widely for waste disposal, including household, hazardous, and medical wasteâ€"but there is increasing public concern over the benefits of combusting the waste versus the health risk from pollutants emitted during combustion. Waste Incineration and Public Health informs the emerging debate with the most up-to-date information available on incineration, pollution, and human healthâ€"along with expert conclusions and recommendations for further research and improvement of such areas as risk communication. The committee provides details on: Processes involved in incineration and how contaminants are released. Environmental dynamics of contaminants and routes of human exposure. Tools and approaches for assessing possible human health effects. Scientific concerns pertinent to future regulatory actions. The book also examines some of the social, psychological, and economic factors that affect the communities where incineration takes place and addresses the problem of uncertainty and variation in predicting the health effects of incineration processes.

Recent advances in air pollution monitoring and modeling capabilities have made it possible to show that air pollution can be transported long distances and that adverse impacts of emitted pollutants cannot be confined to one country or even one continent. Pollutants from traffic, cooking stoves, and factories emitted half a world away can make the air we inhale today more hazardous for our health. The relative importance of this "imported" pollution is likely to increase, as emissions in developing countries grow, and air quality standards in industrial countries are tightened. Global Sources of Local Pollution examines the impact of the long-range transport of four key air pollutants (ozone, particulate matter, mercury, and persistent organic pollutants) on air quality and pollutant deposition in the United States. It also explores the environmental impacts of U.S. emissions on other parts of the world. The book recommends that the United States work with the international community to develop an integrated system for determining pollution sources and impacts and to design effective response strategies. This book will be useful to international, federal, state, and local policy makers responsible for understanding and managing air pollution and its impacts on human health and well-being.