At the newly established Center for Particulate Matter Health Research at NYU School of Medicine, researchers are conducting important studies to identify and characterize the tiny particles in polluted air that contribute to a host of respiratory ailments, and may even kill thousands of people nationwide each year.
The tiny particles known as particulate matter form the haze and soot fouling the air in major urban centers. On hazy days in many big cities, the minute flecks of matter, measuring far less than the width of a human hair, obscure the view of skyscrapers. The particles are a result of the emissions from smokestacks, vehicle exhaust, forest fires and other sources reacting with sunlight and air.
NYU School of Medicine recently received a prestigious, multimillion-dollar grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to set up a research center for airborne particulate matter. Only five institutions nationwide were selected to receive funding to establish these centers. The NYU Center for Particulate Matter Health Research is based in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., the site of the School of Medicine's Nelson Institute of Environmental Medicine.
The $8 million federal grant to NYU will be used to build on a body of research showing how the inhalation of fine and ultrafine airborne particles into the deepest recesses of the lungs can contribute a variety of illnesses, especially in people with pre-existing heart and lung disease.
"There are many serious illnesses that may be caused or exacerbated by airborne particulate matter, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), coronary artery disease, and congestive heart failure" says Morton Lippmann, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Medicine and Program Director of the Center for Particulate Matter Health Research. "We will be especially looking at the quality of New York City's air and its impact on these diseases as reflected by increased symptoms, loss of functional capacity in the heart and lung, need for hospitalization, and higher mortality rates."
"The purpose of our Center is to help provide the underlying mechanisms that can explain how atmospheric particles cause illness," adds Richard Schlesinger, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Medicine and Program Co-Director of the new Center.
The Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that 15,000 lives could be saved each year if particulate matter were more tightly controlled.
The grant supports five core research programs. George Thurston, Sc.D., Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine, directs the epidemiological research core; Terry Gordon, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine, directs the toxicological research core; Joan Reibman, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, directs the clinical research core, and Beverly Cohen, Ph.D., Professor of Environmental Medicine, directs the exposure, dosimetry, and modelling research core. Lung Chi Chen, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Environmental Medicine, coordinates services related to quality assurance, histopathology and other technical support areas.
The Center is supporting seven new particulate matter studies, which are now underway, along with 14 related studies that were already in progress with support from the National Institutes of Health, EPA, the Health Effects Institute (an organization sponsored by EPA and the motor vehicle industry), and other sponsors. One new study will measure levels of particulate matter at street level in New York City, (the site will be at 1st avenue and 26th street, near NYU Medical Center), with a set of collection instruments in order to characterize the air that New Yorkers breathe. Another will develop models for tracking the route of ultrafine particles into the airways using CT (computerized tomography) scans. Still another will determine the specific components of particulate air - such as carbon, sulfates and iron - which cause illness. Other studies will determine whether ozone exacerbates the effects of particulate matter in asthmatics, and whether there are so-called biomarkers, like inflammatory chemicals in the blood, that can serve as indicators of exposure.
"Overall, we anticipate that our studies will help establish that there are specific chemical species within particulate matter and within certain particle size ranges that are primarily responsible for the mortality and morbidity associated with exposure," said Dr. Lippmann.
Particulate matter in air has been the focus of considerable controversy since 1997, when the EPA issued new regulations tightening the limits for particulate matter in the air to cover particles smaller than 2.5 microns (a human hair is 100 microns thick). Industry claimed that the rules, which covered ozone too, would be enormously costly and wouldn't significantly improve people's health. Opponents of the regulations sued the EPA. Last May a divided appeals court panel issued a stay, which prevents EPA from enforcing its 1997 regulations. The EPA appealed. In November a circuit court denied the appeal and the federal agency said it wanted the matter to be decided in the Supreme Court. The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to review its rules for clean air every five years.
In order to develop a better scientific basis for the association between particulate matter and illness, the EPA last year selected five institutions as recipients of multimillion-dollar awards to establish research centers for airborne particulate matter. In addition to the NYU School of Medicine, the recipients are Harvard University's School of Public Health, University of Rochester, University of California at Los Angeles, and University of Washington.