Exposure of Paris taxi drivers to automobile air pollutants within their vehicles
Emmanuelle Zagurya, Yvon Le Moullecb, Isabelle Momasa
a Faculté des
Sciences Pharmaceutiques et Biologiques, Laboratoire d'Hygiène et de
Santé Publique, 4 Avenue de l'Observatoire, 75006 Paris, France, b Laboratoire
d'Hygiène de la Ville de Paris, 11 Rue G Eastman, 75013 Paris,
France
Correspondence to: Professor I Momas Isabelle.Momas{at}pharmacie.univ-paris5.fr
Accepted 26 January
2000
OBJECTIVES
To study
the exposure of Parisian taxi drivers to automobile air pollutants
during their professional activity.
METHODSA cross
sectional study was carried out from 27 January to 27 March 1997, with
measurements performed in the vehicles of 29 randomly selected drivers.
Carbon monoxide (CO) content was measured over an 8 hour period by a CO
portable monitor. The fine suspended particles were measured according
to the black smoke index (BS), with a flow controlled portable pump
provided with a cellulose filter. The nitrogen oxides, NO and
NO2 were measured with a passive sampler.
RESULTSThese drivers
are exposed during their professional activity to relatively high
concentrations of pollutants (mean, median (SD) 3.8, 2 (1.7) ppm for
CO, 168, 164 (53) µg/m3 for BS, 625, 598 (224)
µg/m3 for NO, and 139, 131 (43) µg/m3 for
NO2.) For CO the concentrations were clearly lower than the threshold values recommended by the World Health Organisation. The
situation is less satisfactory for the other pollutants, especially for
the BS index. All concentrations of pollutants recorded were noticeably
higher than concentrations in air recorded by the ambient Parisian air
monitoring network and were close to, or slightly exceeded, the
concentrations measured at the fixed stations close to automobile
traffic. Pollutant concentrations were also influenced greatly by
weather conditions.
CONCLUSIONThis first
French study conducted in taxi drivers shows that they are highly
exposed to automobile pollutants. The results would justify a medical
follow up of this occupational group.
Keywords: taxi drivers; exposure assessment
© 2000 by Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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