Air pollution toxicity study reaffirms Aero Select research
A new study conducted by Lancaster University has reaffirmed work conducted with ANCON’s Aero Select in 2013, revealing the damaging impact of pollutive nanoparticles on health.
Read the full Lancaster University Paper here > https://journal.chestnet.org/article/S0012-3692(18)32723-5/fulltext
The University study shows the hearts of young city dwellers contain billions of toxic air pollution particles, and associated damage to critical pumping muscles, even in children.
Including the youngest subject, who was three years old, scientists were able to identify damage in the cells of the organ’s critical pumping muscles that contained nanoparticles. Underlying causes were suggested to be from iron-rich particles, likely produced by vehicles and industry, illustrating the long-established statistical link between dirty air and heart disease.
While all ages were affected, Prof Barbara Maher, of Lancaster University, said she was particularly concerned about children. “For really young people, the evidence is now of very early-stage damage both in the heart and the brain,” she said. “We have a likely candidate [particle] able to access both organs, with the pathological evidence to show damage is happening.”
The World Health Organization, which has declared the issue a global “public health emergency”, states that more than 90% of the world’s population lives with toxic air. The scientists said the abundance of the nanoparticles might represent a serious public health concern and that particle air pollution must be reduced urgently.
The study reaffirms results published by ANCON Technologies using the Aero Select wide-range aerosol sampler, which considered air particles captured within the respiratory system and fractions accumulated within the body, entering directly through the blood stream.
Applied within the crystal glass industry, size distributions of lead particles were sampled and evaluated, and a major health risk was identified of lead toxicity to workers exposed to nanoparticles in differing processing departments. This was due to the high deposition efficiency and low clearance rate of the lower lungs and the research enabled procedural adaptations to better protect the workforce and save lives.