A story in three parts:
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A story in three parts:
1. "The company found that a car’s four tires collectively emit 1 trillion ultrafine particles — of less than 100 nanometers — per kilometer driven. These particles, a growing number of experts say, pose a unique health risk: They are so small they can pass through lung tissue into the bloodstream and cross the blood-brain barrier or be breathed in and travel directly to the brain, causing a range of problems."
Road Hazard: Evidence Mounts on Toxic Pollution from Tires
Researchers are only beginning to uncover the toxic cocktail of chemicals, microplastics, and heavy metals hidden in car and truck tires. But experts say these tire emissions are a significant source of air and water pollution and may be affecting humans as well as wildlife.
Yale E360 (e360.yale.edu)
2. "... smaller ultrafine particles of <36.5 nm size generally penetrated least. [...] 95% protection is achievable for smaller particles of 11.5 to 20.5 nm sizes."
Field Evaluation of N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators on Construction Jobsites for Protection against Airborne Ultrafine Particles
Exposure to high concentrations of airborne ultrafine particles in construction jobsites may play an important role in the adverse health effects among construction workers, therefore adequate respiratory protection is required. The performance of particulate respirators has never been evaluated in field conditions against ultrafine particles on construction jobsites. In this study, respiratory protection levels against ultrafine particles of different size ranges were assessed during three common construction related jobs using a manikin-based set-up at 85 L/min air flow rate. Two NanoScan SMPS nanoparticle counters were utilized for measuring ultrafine particles in two sampling lines of the test filtering facepiece respirator—one from inside the respirator and one from outside the respirator. Particle size distributions were characterized using the NanoScan data collected from outside of the respirator. Two models of N95 respirators were tested—foldable and pleated. Collected data indicate that penetration of all categories of ultrafine particles can exceed 5% and smaller ultrafine particles of <36.5 nm size generally penetrated least. Foldable N95 filtering facepiece respirators were found to be less efficient than pleated N95 respirators in filtering nanoparticles mostly at the soil moving site and the wooden building frameworks construction site. Upon charge neutralization by isopropanol treatment, the ultrafine particles of larger sizes penetrated more compared to particles of smaller sizes. Our findings, therefore, indicate that N95 filtering facepiece respirators may not provide desirable 95% protection for most categories of ultrafine particles and generally, 95% protection is achievable for smaller particles of 11.5 to 20.5 nm sizes. We also conclude that foldable N95 respirators are less efficient than pleated N95 respirators in filtering ultrafine particles, mostly in the soil moving site and the wooden building framework construction site.
MDPI (www.mdpi.com)
3. Respirators work. Over the coming years, you will probably see more and more articles come out about the health risks of airborne micro and nanoplastics -- mostly in the context of their accumulation in untreated, indoor air. But it is worth knowing that there is something you can do about your exposure outdoors, as well. The more people normalize this behavior, the less stigmatized it becomes. The only thing worse than a health risk is the stigma attached to the tools that help us mitigate it. Since electric vehicles weigh more -- and thus emit more tire dust -- outdoor air isn't getting any friendlier in places with car-centric infrastructure
#AirQuality #TireDust #microplastics #nanoplastics #N95 #WearARespirator