Pollutant levels in ambient air and blood in Korea

Abstract

Recent publications in the Republic of Korea on envitonmental pollution are reviewed. In practice, 38 reports were available in five leading environmental and occupational health journals and from other sources published in the period of 1984 to 1994. Reported values distribute in wide ranges in the cases of SO(2) (9-360 ppb) and total suspended particulates (30#x2013;580 μ g/m(3)) in ambient air, and it was hard to identify representative values, whereas only three reports are available on NOx (9#x2013;33, 18#x2013;89 and 42 ppb) and CO (0.5#x2013;3.0, 1.1#x2013;2.3 and 4.1 ppm). Cadmium levels in ambient air (in 5 reports) were in a range of ND to 12 ng/m(3). Lead in ambient air was discussed in 10 reports, and the values for large cities were in the range of 100-300 ng/m(3). For pollutant metal levels in the blood of subjects with no known occupational exposures, the arithmetic mean (AM) cadmium concentration was in a range of 1.3#x2013;1.6 ng/ml for men and about 1.4 ng/ml for women. Geometric means of 1.6 ng/ml for men and 1.4 ng/ml for women were also reported. AM for blood lead ranged from a low of 90 ng/ml to a high of 250 ng/ml.