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Cancer risk from gaseous carbonyl compounds in indoor environment generated from household coal combustion in Xuanwei, China

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Abstract

Airborne carbonyls were characterized from emitted indoor coal combustion. Samples were collected in Xuanwei (Yunnan Province), a region in China with a high rate of lung cancer. Eleven of 19 types of samples (58%) demonstrated formaldehyde concentrations higher than the World Health Organization exposure limit (a 30-min average of 100 μg m−3). Different positive significant correlations between glyoxal/methylglyoxal and formaldehyde/acetaldehyde concentrations were observed, suggesting possible different characteristics in emissions between two pairs of carbonyl compounds. A sample in the highest inhalation risk shows 29.2 times higher risk than the lowest sample, suggesting different coal sampling locations could contribute to the variation of inhalation risk. Inhabitants in Xuanwei also tend to spend more time cooking and more days per year indoors than the national average. The calculated cancer risk ranged from 2.2–63 × 10−5, which shows 13 types of samples at high-risk level. Cumulative effect in combination with different carbonyls could have contributed to the additive actual inhalation cancer risk. There is a need to explicitly address the health effects of environmentally relevant doses, considering life-long exposure in indoor dwellings.

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Acknowledgements

This study is supported by the project under the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region China (Project No. CUHK 412612). The author would like to thank Xiao-Cui Chen for her assistance in laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Ka-Hei Lui, Chi-Sing Chan & Kin-Fai Ho

  2. Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, SKLLQG, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, 710075, China

    Wen-Ting Dai, Jun-Ji Cao & Kin-Fai Ho

  3. The State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710075, China

    Wen-Ting Dai

  4. School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Linwei Tian

  5. Xuanwei City Center for Disease Control and Prevention—Chronic Non-infectious Disease Control Department, Xuanwei, 655400, China

    Bo-Fu Ning

  6. Coal Geology Prospecting Institute of Yunnan Province, Kunming, 650218, China

    Yiping Zhou, Xiaolin Song & Jinwen Li

  7. Faculty of Science and Technology, Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Bei Wang

  8. Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China

    Jun-Ji Cao

  9. Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Research Center of Urban Environmental Technology and Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

    Shun-Cheng Lee

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  1. Ka-Hei Lui
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  2. Wen-Ting Dai
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  3. Chi-Sing Chan
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  4. Linwei Tian
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  8. Bei Wang
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  9. Jinwen Li
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  10. Jun-Ji Cao
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  11. Shun-Cheng Lee
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  12. Kin-Fai Ho
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Bei Wang or Kin-Fai Ho.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Highlights

• Over 50% of samples produce higher formaldehyde concentrations than the exposure limit

• Positive significant correlations show different emission characteristics

• A sample with the highest inhalation risk is 29.2 times higher than the lowest sample

• Over 60% of samples indicate cooking risks at a high level

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Lui, KH., Dai, WT., Chan, CS. et al. Cancer risk from gaseous carbonyl compounds in indoor environment generated from household coal combustion in Xuanwei, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 17500–17510 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9223-y

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