ABSTRACT

Recent research has indicated that airborne particles are associated with serious health effects and are a major player in climate change. Yet air pollution regulations are ignored in IPCC modeling, and climatic effects of aerosols are ignored in setting air pollution standards. Clearly, a better dialogue is needed. This talk will review what we know about the health effects of aerosols, and the growing evidence that there are sensitive subgroups who have much greater than average risks. In particular, aerosols are responsible for several hundred thousand early deaths per year in North America, similar effects in Europe, and much larger impacts in developing Asia. It will also briefly discuss existing and possible regulations, which may have broader implications.