Abstract
BackgroundOpen burning of anthropogenic sources can release hazardous emissions and has been associated with increased prevalence of cardiopulmonary health outcomes. Exposure to smoke emitted from burn pits in military bases has been linked with respiratory illness among military and civilian personnel returning from war zones. Although the composition of the materials being burned is well studied, the resulting chemistry and potential toxicity of the emissions are not.MethodsSmoke emission condensates from either flaming or smoldering combustion of five different types of burn pit-related waste: cardboard; plywood; plastic; mixture; and mixture/diesel, were obtained from a laboratory-scale furnace coupled to a multistage cryotrap system. The primary emissions and smoke condensates were analyzed for a standardized suite of chemical species, and the condensates were studied for pulmonary toxicity in female CD-1 mice and mutagenic activity in Salmonella (Ames) mutagenicity assay using the frameshift strain TA98 and the base-substitution strain TA100 with and without metabolic activation (S9 from rat liver).ResultsMost of the particles in the smoke emitted from flaming and smoldering combustion were less than 2.5 µm in diameter. Burning of plastic containing wastes (plastic, mixture, or mixture/diesel) emitted larger amounts of particulate matter (PM) compared to other types of waste. On an equal mass basis, the smoke PM from flaming combustion of plastic containing wastes caused more inflammation and lung injury and was more mutagenic than other samples, and the biological responses were associated with elevated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon levels.ConclusionsThis study suggests that adverse health effects of burn pit smoke exposure vary depending on waste type and combustion temperature; however, burning plastic at high temperature was the most significant contributor to the toxicity outcomes. These findings will provide a better understanding of the complex chemical and combustion temperature factors that determine toxicity of burn pit smoke and its potential health risks at military bases.
Highlights
Open burning of anthropogenic sources can release hazardous emissions and has been associated with increased prevalence of cardiopulmonary health outcomes
Our results clearly showed that inferences from the various strains of Salmonella of the main chemical classes responsible for the mutagenicity of the burn pit smoke particulate matter (PM) were consistent with the chemical analyses across several Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) groups
Our results show that the mutagenicity Emission factor (EF) of burn pits combusting typical types of waste disposed of in such pits are within the range associated with other types of combustion emissions, the exposure to which is associated with a variety of health effects
Summary
Open burning of anthropogenic sources can release hazardous emissions and has been associated with increased prevalence of cardiopulmonary health outcomes. Burn pits are a common way to eliminate military waste in the absence of standard waste management systems in war zones. These open burn pits are often located next to military bases, may operate 24 h a day, 7 days a week, and emit many potentially toxic compounds in the air. Because over one million U.S military personnel have been deployed in war zones for the past 20 years [9], military communities and public health professionals have become increasingly concerned about exposures to burn pit smoke. There is growing concern that a significant number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans continue to experience health problems associated with exposures to a variety of airborne hazards during military service [4,5,6, 10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20]
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