ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on specific pollutants for which sufficient information is available to assess potential population impacts. Normally, mortality is considered the most serious health effect following exposure to air pollution. Monitoring and time-activity diaries should directly assess levels of exposure and help to identify the major determinants of personal exposure of individuals to the pollutants. Quantitative assessments of total personal exposure are possible even with fixed location sampling coupled with individual time budgets. For risk assessment, one requires an exposure-effect relationship, an estimation of the size of the population at risk, including the groups especially sensitive, good exposure information, appropriate data on health outcomes, and some reasonable future scenarios. The goal of protecting human health is not only served by the application of outdoor air quality standards. To protect the public, some governmental guidelines for reduction of contamination have been established in some countries but need further development in other countries.
