© 2003 BMJ Publishing Group
LETTER
Respiratory effects of volcanic emissions
Dept of Epidemiology & Public Health, Imperial College London, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK; a.hansell@imperial.ac.uk
Keywords: volcano; ash; dust; respiratory
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Although at least 455 million people worldwide live within potential exposure range of a volcano active within recorded history,1 surprisingly little primary epidemiological research on the health effects of volcanic emissions has been published. The research by Forbes and colleagues2 on the respiratory effects of the eruptions in Montserrat is therefore very welcome. However, more studies are needed to determine the transferability of results to volcanic emissions elsewhere. There may be important differences between volcanoes and between events from the same volcano in terms of eruption pattern, gaseous emissions, base composition of ash (for example, cristobalite concentrations), compounds adsorbed onto ash particles (which may be volcanic in origin or derived from other pollution sources), the percentage of particles small enough to be respirable, and toxicological activity.3 For example, most respirable ash in Montserrat has originated from pyroclastic flows, with cristobalite concentrations measured at 20.1%, but Montserrat ash derived from phreatic
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