Measurement of Personal Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds and Particle Associated PAH in Three UK Regions JUANA MARI DELGADO SABORIT, NOEL J. AQUILINA, CLAIRE MEDDINGS, STEPHEN BAKER, SOTIRIS VARDOULAKIS, AND ROY M. HARRISON* Division of Environmental Health & Risk Management, School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom Received December 4, 2008. Revised manuscript received April 2, 2009. Accepted April 6, 2009. Personal exposures to 15 volatile organic compounds (VOC) and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) of 100 adult nonsmokers living in three UK areas, namely London, West Midlands, and rural South Wales, were measured using an actively pumped sampler carried around by the volunteers for 5/1 (VOC/PAH) consecutive 24-h periods, following their normal lifestyle. Results from personal exposure measurements categorized by geographical location, type of dwelling, and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) are presented. The average personal exposure concentration to benzene, 1,3- butadiene, and benzo(a)pyrene representing the main carcinogenic components of the VOC and PAH mixture were 2.2 ( 2.5 μg/m 3 , 0.4 ( 0.7 μg/m 3 , and 0.3 ( 0.7 ng/m 3 respectively. The association of a number of generic factors with personal exposure concentrations was investigated, including first- line property, traffic, the presence of an integral garage, and ETS. Only living in houses with integral garages and being exposed to ETS were identified as unequivocal contributors to VOC personal exposure, while only ETS had a clear effect upon PAH personal exposures. The measurements of personal exposures were compared with health-based European and UK air quality guidelines, with some exceedences occurring. Activities contributing to high personal exposures included the use of a fireplace in the home, ETS exposure, DIY (i.e., construction and craftwork activities), and photocopying, among others. 1. Introduction Air toxics are ubiquitous in outdoor and indoor air, and therefore of public health concern. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies benzene, 1,3- butadiene, and benzo(a)pyrene as known human carcino- gens, dibenzo(a, h)anthracene as a probable human car- cinogen, and several others (e.g., ethylbenzene) as possible human carcinogens (1). To date, while the study of personal exposure to air pollution is a rather well developed science, it has been restricted mainly to benzene and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and the xylenes) (2, 3), while studies where personal exposures to other VOC such as styrene, ETS markers, 1,3-butadiene, and PAH have been assessed are very limited (4-6). The implementation of the European air quality daughter Directive 2000/69/EC involves a European limit value for benzene of 5 μg/m 3 (annual mean) to be achieved by 2010. The Directive 2004/107/EC involves a target value for B(a)P of 1 ng/m 3 (annual mean) to be achieved by 2012. The UK Air Quality Strategy for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland involves a UK national air quality objective, reiterated in 2007, of 5 μg/m 3 (annual mean) for benzene, 2.25 μg/m 3 (running annual average) for 1,3-butadiene, and 0.25 ng/m 3 for benzo(a)pyrene. The Measurement and Modeling of Air Toxic Concentra- tions for Health Effect Studies (MATCH) Project aimed to provide a significant strengthening of the VOC and PAH personal exposure and microenvironment measurement database through generating new data via direct measure- ments. The study sought to lead to advances in understanding the causes and magnitude of exposures to VOC and PAH and to establish whether collecting lifestyle information is suf- ficient to model personal exposures reliably when compared with exposures evaluated independently by personal sam- plers. In this paper, the results for VOC and PAH personal exposure are presented and considered in light of the target values for benzene, 1,3-butadiene, and benzo(a)pyrene set by European Directives and the UK Air Quality Strategy. It also tries to elucidate factors influencing the exposure of the subjects to VOC and PAH including living in a first-line property, living in houses with integral garage, and being exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) as well as traffic in terms of geographical location and location of the dwelling within the city boundaries. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Volunteer Recruitment. The MATCH project recruited 100 healthy non-smoker adult volunteer subjects between 2005 and 2007 for non-occupational personal exposure (PE). Three areas were chosen for their expected gradient in PE concentrations: London, West Midlands, and rural South Wales. Subjects were chosen to participate based upon four key determinants (i.e., possible VOC/PAH sources), namely the location where they lived, if they were exposed to ETS, if their house incorporated an integral garage, and by the proximity of the house to a major road (coded as first line). First line (FL) subjects lived in properties located on an A road (>20,000 vehicles per day including heavy vehicles) or a busy B road (lower volumes of traffic including heavy vehicles) in an urban/suburban area. Subjects were con- sidered ETS exposed whenever they reported themselves in the activity diary to be in the company of a smoker (friend/ relative) or to be in places with smokers (e.g., pub). Subjects were excluded if they were smokers, in poor health, under 18 years of age, unable to carry the personal sampler, exposed to VOC and PAH at work, if they traveled more than 2 h per day professionally, if the journey to work took more than 2 h traveling time for a return trip, or if their workplace was more than 20 miles from their house. 2.2. Sampling Methods. VOC and 1,3-butadiene were collected in separate preconditioned sorbent tubes (4), while PAH were collected on 47-mm filters. For the first 33 subjects glass fiber filters were used but for the subsequent work quartz fiber filters prebaked for 48 h at 400 °C were used due to a lower blank (7). Each subject was sampled for VOC and 1,3-butadiene for a total of five consecutive 24-h periods using one personal sampler pump, connected to the sorbent tubes and in one * Corresponding author e-mail: r.m.harrison@bham.ac.uk. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, 43, 4582–4588 4582 9 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / VOL. 43, NO. 12, 2009 10.1021/es9005042 CCC: $40.75  2009 American Chemical Society Published on Web 05/15/2009