Quantitative assessment of human health risks induced by vehicle exhaust polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons at Zhengzhou via multimedia fugacity models with cancer risk assessment.

Traffic-related pollution released a large amount of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) which have severely influenced environmental safety and human health until now. However, the important issue of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission from vehicle exhaust in urban populated areas has not been sufficiently investigated yet. This study focused on environmental behavior of vehicle exhaust PAHs (VEPAHs) and resultant health risk on local residents in urban populated areas. This study combined the multimedia fugacity models (Level III and Level IV) and the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) model, for analyzing the VEPAHs' environmental fate and related health risk on local residents in Zhengzhou of the central China. Regression models were applied to explore correlation between atmospheric concentration of VEPAHs and local pulmonary disease mortality rate. Our results demonstrate that the majority of VEPAH was sunk into the soil compartment in 2013, but the calculated BaP-equivalent concentrations of total VEPAHs in the air compartment exceeded the annual average standard limit of China (1ng/m3) yet. The human exposure routes of VEPAHs caused cancer risk in the following order: inhalation>dermal contact>ingestion.