Date of Award

1-1-2023

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Environmental Health Sciences

Content Description

1 online resource (xi, 109 pages) : illustrations (some color), color maps.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

David Carpenter

Committee Members

Lawrence Lessner, Mary O'Reilly, Lei Zhu

Keywords

Air Pollution, Herbicide, New York State, Poverty, Smoking, VOCs Pollution, Herbicides, Volatile organic compounds, Air, Lungs

Subject Categories

Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to show the adverse effects of environmental pollutants on human health. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the subject. Chapter 2 focuses on glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) and their impact on the mammalian nervous system. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in GBHs, such as Roundup™, the most widely used herbicide worldwide. In addition to cancer and reproductive effects, glyphosate and GBHs have adverse effects on the brain and behavioral health and increase the risk of at least some serious neurological disorders. I reviewed scientific reports on the effects of glyphosate and GBHs on the mammalian nervous system; exposure to GBHs increases the risk of Parkinson's Disease and causes death of substantia nigra neurons. Roundup™ has also been linked to an increased risk of autism in some studies. Oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction are the major mechanisms of action. Chapters 3 and 4 show the adverse effects of air pollution on human health and its association with respiratory diseases. Air pollution is of great concern due to the strong evidence that it causes an increased mortality and morbidity and contributes to climate change and negative human health impacts. Most research on air pollution and human disease has focused on the priority pollutants, especially particulates. However, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are also major air pollutants, and the effects of inhalation of VOCs have been less studied. Exposure to VOCs like benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, xylene (BTEX), and formaldehyde also have the potential to pose serious health risks. Many adverse health outcomes have been linked to VOCs, including cardiovascular disease, respiratory diseases, and asthma. There needs to be further research on the adverse effects of non-occupational exposures to VOCs on human health, as current results are inconclusive. The overarching objective of this project is to determine the degree to which exposure to VOCs from all sources and particularly from point sources affects human health. The exposure data comes from the US EPA National Emissions Inventory (NEI), a data set of air emissions and pollutants from point sources, as well as total exposure by county. This research project examines the rates of hospital emergency room (ER) visits for asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), acute lower respiratory disease, and acute upper respiratory diseases among patients who were exposed to higher concentrations of VOC air pollutants. Data on patients' ER visits come from the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) database. The use of these datasets allows one to provide an indication of the risk of respiratory diseases caused by air pollutants, from all sources of pollution at the county level and at zip code levels in relation to point source emissions. This study shows that there is a higher risk of respiratory diseases among poor people; there is a strong association between air pollution and asthma attacks, and between smoking and COPD. These findings demonstrate that local VOCs pollution results in a small but significant contribution to the risk of respiratory disease-related ER visits.

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