Nitrogen dioxide Clause Samples

Nitrogen dioxide. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a toxic gas with effects on respiratory health that have been clearly demonstrated by toxicological and epidemiological studies (WHO, 2006). However, it is generally agreed, that at the levels observed in an urban setting, which are lower than levels used in controlled human studies, the results of the (numerous) epidemiologic studies showing a link between NO2 levels and various health effects, notably respiratory effects (see the recent review by USEPA, 2008), could be due in part to other traffic-related pollutants, e.g. ultrafine particles, for which NO2 is a proxy (HEI panel on the health effects of traffic-related air pollution, 2010; ▇▇▇▇▇, 2004). Also, performing HIAs on both NO2 and PM can lead to do double counting, so for the time being we advise not to peform both HIAs, even if we probably underestimate the health impacts of urban air pollution, particularly in the short term. Nevertheless, as NO2 levels are currently increasing in Europe, due to an increasing trend in traffic-related primary NO2 emissions (Carslaw et al., 2007), the use of NO2 in HIAs should be examined further in future work.