AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CROP ECOLOGY
A RESEARCH ORGANIZATION DEVOTED TO PROBLEMS OF
PLANT ADAPTATION AND INTRODUCTION
WASHINGTON, 0 C.
AICE* SURVEY OF USSR AIR POLLUTION LITERATURE
Volume XIX
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
AIR POLLUTANTS AND TO SOME OF THEIR BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
Edited By
M. Y. Nuttonson
The material presented here is part <
USSR literature on air pollution
conducted by the Air Poll-
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CROP ECOLOGY
merly R01 APC
AIR PRO
[RONMENTALI
•AMERICAN 1NSTITU
809 DALE DRJ
SILVER SPRING, MARYLANI
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PUBLICATIONS of the AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CROP ECOLOGY
Ref.
No.
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10
II
12
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UKRAINE-Ecological Crop Geography of the Ukraine and the
Ukrainian Agro-Climatic Analogues in North America
POLAND-Agricul rural Climatology of Poland and Its Agro-
Climatic Analogues in North America
CZECHOSLOVAKIA-Agricultural Climatology of Czechoilc-
valcia and Its Agro-Climatic Analogues in North America
YUGOSLAVIA-Agricultural Climatologyof Yugoslavia and Its
Agro-Climatic Analogues in North America
GREECE—Ecological Crop Geography of Greece and Its Agro-
Climatic Analogues in North America
ALBANIA-Ecological Plant Geography of Albania, Irs Agri-
cultural Crops and Some North American Climatic Analogues
CHINA—Ecological Crop Geography of China and Its Agro-
Climatic Analogues in North America
GERMANY—Ecological Crop Geography of Germany and Its
Agro-Climatic Analogues in North America
JAPAN (I (-Agricultural Climatologyof Japan and Its Agro-
Climatic Analogues in North America
FINLAND-Ecological Crop Geography of Finland and Its Agro-
Climatic Analogues in North America
SWEDEN—Agricultural Climatology of Sweden and Its Agro-
Climatic Analogues in North America
NOR WAY-Ecological Crop Geography of Norway and Its Agro-
Climatic Apologues in North America
SIBERIA-Agricultural Climatology of Siberia, Its Natural Belts,
and Agro-Climatic Analogues in North America
JAPAN (2)-Ecologlcal Crop Geography and Field Practices of
Japan, Japan's Natural Vegetation, and Agro-Climatic
Analogues in North America
RYUKYU ISLANDS-Ecologicol Crop Geography and Field
Practices of the Ryukyu Islands, Natural Vegetation of the
Ryukyus, and Agro-Climatic Analogues in the Northern
Hemisphere
PHENOLOGY AND THERMAL ENVIRONMENT AS A MEANS
OF A PHYSIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF WHEAT
VARIETIES AND FOR PREDICTING MATURITY DATES OF
WHEAT
(Based on Data of Czechoslovakia and of Some Thermally
Analogous Areas of Czechoslovakia in the United States
Pacific Northwest)
WHEAT-CLIMATE RELATIONSHIPS AND THE USE OF PHE-
NOLOGY IN ASCERTAINING THE THERMAL AND PHO-
TOTHERMAL REQUIREMENTS OF WHEAT
(Based on Data of North America and Some Thermally Anal-
ogous Areas of North America in the Soviet Union and in
Finland)
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LOWER AND UPPER LIMITS OF
TEMPERATURE IN MEASURING THE VARIABILITY OF DAY-
DEGREE SUMMATIONS OF WHEAT, BARLEY, AND RYE
BARLEY-CLIMATE RELATIONSHIPS AND THE USE OF PHE-
NOLOGY IN ASCERTAINING THE THERMAL^AND PHO-
TOTHERMAL REQUIREMENTS OF BARLEY
RYE-CLIMATE RELATIONSHIPS AND THE USE OF PHENOL-
OGY IN ASCERTAINING THE THERMAL AND PHOTO-
THERMAL REQUIREMENTS OF RYE
AGRICULTURAL ECOLOGY IN SUBTROPICAL REGIONS
MOROCCO, ALGERIA, TUNISIA-Physical Environment and
Agriculture
LIBYA and EGYPT-Physical Environment and Agriculture. . .
UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA-Physical Environment and Agri-
culrure, With Special Reference ID Winter-Rainfall Regions
AUSTRALIA-Physicol Environment and Agriculture, With Spe-
cial Reference to Winter-Rainfall Regions
26 S. E. CALIFORNIA and S. W. ARIZONA-Physicol Environment
and Agriculture of the Desert Regions
27 THAILAND-Physical Environment and Agriculture
28 BURMA-Physical Environment and Agriculture
28A BURMA—Diseases and Pests of Economic Plants
28B BURMA-Climate, Soils and Rice Culture (Supplementary In-
formation and a Bibliography to Report 28)
29A VIETNAM, CAMBODIA, LAOS-rhysical Environment and
Agriculture
29B VIETNAM, CAMBODIA, LAOS-Diseasei and Pestsof Economic
Plants
29C VIETNAM, CAMBODIA, LAOS-Climarological Data (Supple-
ment to Report 29A)
30A CENTRAL and SOUTH CHINA, HONG KONG, 1AIWAN-
Physical Environment and Agriculture $20.00'
308 CENTRAL and SOUTH CHINA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN-
Major Plant Pests and Diseases
31 SOUTH CHINA-lts Agro-Climatic Analogues in Southeast Asia
32 SACRAMENTO-SAN JOAQUIN DELTA OF CALIFORNIA-
Physical Environment and Agriculture
33 GLOBAL AGROCLIMATIC ANALOGUES FOR THE RICE RE-
GIONS OF THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATE
34 AGRO-CLIMATOLOGY AND GLOBAL AGROCLIMATIC
ANALOGUES OF THE CITRUS REGIONS OF THE CON-
TINENTAL UNITED STATES
35 GLOBAL AGROCLIMATIC ANALOGUES FOR THE SOUTH-
EASTERN ATLANTIC REGION OF THE CONTINENTAL
UNITED STATES
36 GLOBAL AGROCLIMATIC ANALOGUES FOR THE INTER-
MOUNTAIN REGION OF THE CONTINENTAL UNITED
STATES
37 GLOBAL AGROCLIMATIC ANALOGUES FOR THE NORTHERN
GREAT PLAINS REGION OF THE CONTINENTAL UNITED
STATES
38 GLOBAL AGROCLIMATIC ANALOGUES FOR THE MAYA-
GUEZ DISTRICT OF PUERTO RICO
39 RICE CULTURE and RICE-CLIMATE RELATIONSHIPS With Spe-
cial Reference to the United States Rice Areas and Their
Latitudinal and Thermal Analogues in Other Countries
40 E. WASHINGTON, IDAHO, and UTAH—Physical Environment
and Agriculture
41 WASHINGTON, IDAHO, and UTAH-The Use of Phenology
in Ascertaining the Temperature Requirements of Wheat
Grown in Washington, Idaho, and Utah and in Some of
Their Agro-Climatically Analogous Areas in the Eastern
Hemisphere
42 NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS REGION-Preliminary Study of
Phonological Temperature Requirements of a Few Varietios
of Wheat Grown in the Northern Great Plains Region and in
Some Agro-Climatically Analogous Areas in the Eastern
Hemisphere
43 SOUTHEASTERN ATLANTIC REGlON-Phenologicol Temper-
ature Requirements of Some Winter Wheat Varieties Grown
in the Southeastern Atlantic Region of the United States and
in Several of Its Latitudinally Analogous Areas of the Eastern
and Southern Hemispheres of Seasonally Similar Thermal
Conditions
44 ATMOSPHERIC AND METEOROLOGICAL ASPECTS OF AIR
POLLUTION-A Survey of USSR Air Pollution Literature
45 EFFECTS AND SYMPTOMS OF AIR POLLUTES ON VEGETA-
TION; RESISTANCE AND SUSCEPTIBILITY OF DIFFERENT
PLANT SPECIES IN VARIOUS HABITATS, IN RELATION TO
PLANT UTILIZATION FOR SHELTER BELTS AND AS BIO-
LOGICAL INDICATORS-A Survey of USSR Air Pollution
Literature
(Continued on inside of back cover)
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AICE-AIR-73-19
AICE* SURVEY OF USSR AIR POLLUTION LITERATURE
Volume XIX
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
AIR POLLUTANTS AND TO SOME OF THEIR BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
Edited By
M. Y. Nuttonson
The material presented here is part of a survey of
USSR literature on air pollution
conducted by the Air Pollution Section
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CROP ECOLOGY
This survey is being conducted under GRANT R 800878
(Formerly R01AP 00786)
OFFICE OF AIR PROGRAMS
of the
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
•AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CROP ECOLOGY
809 DALE DRIVE
SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND 20910
1973
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
PREFACE vl
POLLUTION OF AIR WITH NOXIOUS CHEMICAL AND MECHANICAL IMPURITIES
D. A. Zil'ber, R. A. Loginova, I. N. Novikova,
A. I. Olekhnovich, M. M. Ostrovskiy, and
M. D. Razumovskiy 1
PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT FROM POLLUTION
S. N. Cherkinskiy 10
FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF SANITARY SCIENCE AND PRACTICE IN
CONNECTION WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRY IN THE
UKRANIAN SSR AND WAYS OF SOLVING THEM
M. N. Mel'nlk 14
LOCAL INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR
K. N. Blagosklonov, A. A. Inozemtsev, and
V. N. Tikhomirov 17
STUDY OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR POLLUTED WITH EMISSIONS FROM
A GAS PROCESSING PLANT
M. P. Bida 19
FERROUS METALLURGY AS A SOURCE OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION
M. I. Gusev and Ye. V. Yelfimova 22
ISOLATED AND COMBINED ACTION ON THE ORGANISM OF CERTAIN TOXIC
AGENTS DISCHARGED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE BY FERROUS
METALLURGICAL PLANTS
Ye. V. Yelfimova and M. I. Gusev 27
SANITARY ASSESSMENT OF THE STATE OF THE AIR RESERVOIR IN THE
ZONE OF AN EXTRA-HIGH-CAPACITY STATE REGIONAL ELECTRIC
POWER PLANT (SREPP)
N. N. Sakhnovsfcaya 35
SANITARY EVALUATION OF AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF CALCULATING
THE DISPERSAL OF EMISSIONS FROM A STATE REGIONAL ELECTRIC
POWER PLANT (SREPP) IN ATMOSPHERIC AIR
R. S. Gil'denskiol'd and B. V. Rikhter 40
iii
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Page
STUDY OF THE HEALTH OF THE JUVENILE POPULATION RESIDING IN
AREAS WITH VARIOUS DEGREES OF POLLUTION OF THE ATMOSPHERE
BY EMISSIONS FROM STATE REGIONAL ELECTRIC POWER PLANTS (SREPP)
R. S. Gil'denskiol'd, Ya. K. Yushko, G. N. Tyurina,
and V. P. Dukhanova 47
ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION CAUSED BY REFUSE DUMPS
V. M. Sukharevskiy, A. P. Stel'makh, and N. P. Sirily 53
SANITARY CHARACTERISTICS OF AMMONIA AND VALIDATION OF ITS
MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE CONCENTRATION IN ATMOSPHERIC AIR
M. M. Sayfutdinov 58
OZONE CONCENTRATIONS IN THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE HARMFUL TO MAN
Professor A. Kh. Khrgian 62
IONIZATION OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR OF THE TOWN OF CHERVONOGRAD AND
ITS SANITARY IMPORTANCE
M. I. Karpeko 69
DETERMINATION OF LATENT TIME OF REFLEX REACTIONS OF LABORATORY
ANIMALS ACTED UPON BY TOXIC AGENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC AIR
M. I. Gusev and A. A. Minayev 72
METABOLIC REACTIONS IN THE ORGANISM IN THE PRESENCE OF CHRONIC
INTOXICATION WITH CARBON MONOXIDE
I. I. Datsenko 75
DATA FOR SUBSTANTIATING MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE CONCENTRATIONS OF
ELEMENTAL SULFUR DUST IN THE AIR OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS
L. I. Brilinskiy 78
HYGIENIC EVALUATION OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION BY DISCHARGES OF
A SULFUR-PRODUCING CHEMICAL-MINING COMPLEX
N. N. Sakhnovskaya 81
BIOLOGICAL EFFECT OF SULFUR DIOXIDE AND PHENOL IN COMBINATION ON
THE HUMAN AND ANIMAL ORGANISM UNDER EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS
A. P. Makhinya 85
EFFECT OF LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF a-METHYLSTYRENE VAPOR ON THE
HUMAN ORGANISM
A. A. Minayev 90
iv
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Page
SANITARY EVALUATION OF VALERIC ACID AS AN ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTANT
F. I. Dubrovskaya and M. Kh. Khachaturyan 98
DATA FOR VALIDATING THE MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE CONCENTRATION OF
BUTYRIC ACID IN ATMOSPHERIC AIR
V. M. Styazhkin and M. Kh. Khachaturyan 104
INTERACTION OF CONDITIONED AND UNCONDITIONED STIMULI IN THE
PRESENCE OF A COMBINATION OF LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF
BUTYRIC ACID AND RHYTHMIC LIGHT IN MAN
M. Kh. Khachaturyan and V. M. Styazhkin Ill
EFFECT OF LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF EPICHLOROHYDRIN VAPOR ON THE
ANIMAL ORGANISM
A. P. Fondn 118
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PREFACE
The papers presented in this volume relate to a number of aspects of
man's impact on the sanitary conditions of his physical environment. Most
of the material deals with various problems of urban areas where the atmos-
pheric air is polluted with noxious gaseous and solid impurities and where
the health of the local population is endangered by the effects of ambient
toxic substances.
A number of the papers of the present volume consist of surveys of
sources of air pollution, of concentrations of various air pollutants, of
measures aimed at improving the sanitary conditions in the air reservoir
through preventive legislative actions of organizational as well as of
technical character adopted in the USSR, and of the nature of investigations
conducted at a network of the sanitary-epidemiological stations and labora-
tories of the country.
Some of the material of the other papers of this volume represents
reports of experimental and field studies dealing with
(1) the physical and chemical factors in relation to the external
and industrial environment,
(2) the adverse biological effects of various chemical substances
discharged from industrial enterprises,
(3) the degree of pollution and nature of the noxious substances
emitted into the atmosphere by ferrous metallurgical plants
and by electric power plants, as well as the sanitary evalua-
tion and sanitary recommendations for protecting the areas
around these plants,
(4) the dynamics and concentration of various hydrocarbons dis-
charged from gas-processing plants into the atmospheric air
in relation to meteorological factors,
(5) the sanitary standardization of ambient chemical toxic sub-
stances and their maximum permissible concentrations.
The results of the above studies provide in the USSR a basis and a
scientific criteria for assessing the degree of air pollution and form the
foundation for a number of proposed ameliorative sanitation measures.
vi
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It is hoped that the papers selected for presentation in this volume
will be conducive to a better appreciation of some of the air pollution
investigations conducted in the USSR. As the editor of this volume I wish
to thank my co-workers in the Air Pollution Section of the Institute for
their valuable assistance.
M. Y. Nuttonson
January 1973
vii
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POLLUTION OF AIR WITH NOXIOUS CHEMICAL AND MECHANICAL IMPURITIES
D. A. Zil'ber, R. A. Loginova, I. N. Novikova, A. I. Olekhnovich,
M. M. Ostrovskiy, and M. D. Razumovskiy*
From "Gigiena". Pod redaktsiey Prof. G. A. Mitereva. Izdatel'stvo "Meditsina1',
Moskva, p. 36-46, (1970).
Because of the industrialization of the national economy, the development
of various types of transportation and residential and public construction,
the air of urban populated areas is considerably polluted with the waste and
emissions of industrial enterprises, automobile and railroad transportation
in the form of noxious vapors, gases, smoke and dust. It is justifiably assumed
that atmospheric air is the sewer for various noxious impurities resulting from
human vital activity and participation in the national economy. The role of
the above-indicated factors, so essential in this respect, is confirmed by the
fact that studies of the air of major industrial centers and rural populated
areas have shown definite evidence of a heavier pollution of urban air than
of the atmospheric air of small villages and of large ones.
The most common noxious gases occurring in the atmospheric air of major
industrial centers are sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide. The emission of
sulfur dioxide is chiefly due to the combustion of solid fuel (anthracite coal),
the sulfur content of which reaches 5%, depending on its quality. The combus-
tion of sulfur forms sulfurous anhydride, which enters the surrounding atmos-
phere together with smoke. A particularly heavy pollution of air with this
gas is due to the boiler houses of electric and thermoelectric power plants,
and also to the boiler rooms of residential and public buildings and industrial
(metallurgical, chemical, etc.) enterprises.
In the hygienic evaluation of pollution of the surrounding atmosphere
with sulfurous anhydride, the properties of the latter should be taken into
account, i.e. , a high solubility in water and a high specific gravity.
Because of these two properties, sulfur dioxide descends relatively rapidly
into the lower zone of the earth's air envelope.
Descending air currents substantially promote the descent of this gas
into the lower zone (inhabited zone) and the formation of a very toxic sul-
furic acid fog. A fog of this kind, which formed as a result of unfavorable
meteorological conditions and caused many victims, was observed in London
in 1952.
Sulfurous anhydride is a chemical compound with a pronounced irritant
effect on the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract and eyes, this
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being due to a rapid absorption of the gas by moist surfaces. At high con-
centrations, it causes acute inflammatory processes in the nasopharynx,
trachea and bronchi. The victims complain of a painful dry cough, hoarseness,
difficult breathing, etc. The chief symptoms of the effect are: abundant
lachrymation, sharp pain in attempts to close the eyelids, conjunctivitis.
In chronic poisoning, the most characteristic symptoms are pulmonary emphysema,
gastrointestinal disturbances, and impairment of metabolism. It should be
noted that cases of serious poisoning can occur only under industrial condi-
tions, since in atmospheric air the content of sulfur dioxide is usually
negligible.
The presence of sulfur dioxide in the air of populated areas is inadmis-
sible not only because of its adverse effects on the health of the population.
A considerable danger of sulfur dioxide to many life forms in nature also has
been demonstrated. In particular, it has a harmful effect on vegetation,
disrupting the processes of photosynthesis in conifers and deciduous tree
species and causing the death of wild plants and grasses.
In connection with the extensive development of motor transport, the
problem of atmospheric air purity has become particularly urgent. This is
because motor transport is a source of pollution of atmospheric air with a
very dangerous component of exhaust gases, carbon monoxide. It is observed
in the streets of populated areas in the presence of heavy motor traffic in
the vicinity of various industrial enterprises (metallurgical and chemical
plants, railroad shops, large motorcar fleets, etc.). In the exhaust gases
of automobiles, the carbon monoxide concentration ranges from 1 to 13.5%
(depending on the system of the engine, its operation and conditions, the
type of fuel); in the smoke of locomotive fire boxes, from 2 to 3.6%; in
tobacco smoke, 0.5-1%, and in the smoke of residential furnaces, up to 1.5%.
The heaviest pollution of atmospheric air takes place during fires and explo-
sions. Sanitary-hygienic studies have shown that on the main streets of
cities and towns, particularly at points of largest accumulation of automo-
bile traffic, the average carbon monoxide concentrations do not exceed 30
mg/m^, and the maximum ones, around 90 mg/m^. it is quite obvious that car-
bon monoxide in these concentrations can cause neither acute poisoning nor
distinct pathological changes. However, prolonged inhalation of street air
polluted with carbon monoxide may give rise to symptoms of intoxication:
headache, throbbing in the temples, and other symptoms of a general character
(according to the data of a survey conducted on a large group of traffic
policemen).
It is necessary to consider separately the accumulations of carbon
monoxide that are dangerous to health in enclosed areas. Such a situation
may take place in poorly ventilated garages, in residential and public build-
ings with stove heating when the stovepipes have been prematurely closed, when
the rules governing the use of equipment operating on kitchen gas have been
grossly violated, etc. It should always be kept in mind that the symptoms of
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carbon monoxide poisoning appear gradually, so that a person can easily
overcome the initial health disturbances. However, the latter are soon
followed by muscular weakness, as a result of which the victim finds it
extremely difficult to leave the room in which the poisoning has taken
place on his own. This fact accounts for the grave results of carbon mon-
oxide poisoning in some cases, under either everyday living conditions or
industrial conditions.
In addition to the indicated toxic impurities, outdoor air may become
polluted with emissions containing nitrogen oxides, chlorine, hydrogen
chloride, hydrogen sulfide, hydrocarbons, etc. In the great majority of
cases, these noxious vapors and gaseous impurities are found in atmospheric
air near industrial enterprises, and the character of the impurities depends
on the nature of the production. For example, nitrogen oxides can be found
around plants producing nitric acid, chlorine in the vicinity of chlorine
and bleaching powder plants, carbon disulfide in the vicinity of rayon plants,
hydrogen sulfide in areas of petroleum production, etc.
Another variety of atmospheric pollutants are mechanical impurities -
dust and smoke. From a physicochemical standpoint, they constitute a system
of aerosols containing a dispersed phase — particles in the solid or liquid
state suspended in air — and the dispersion medium — atmospheric air.
Aerosols possess a very high physicochemical activity due to their extensive
adsorbing surface. The latter is directly proportional to the fineness of
the substance or its dispersity. It has been established that the greater
the dispersity of aerosols, the higher their specific surface. An increase
in specific surface leads in turn to a sharp increase of the contact between
the dispersed phase and the surrounding medium, i.e., to an increase in the
physiological activity of aerosols.
Each particle hovering in air is acted upon by two forces — the force
of gravity, as a result of which it tries to settle, and the frictional
force of the medium, which prevents its settling. Studies have established
that if the force of gravity predominates over the drag, the particles settle
out of the air relatively quickly and with increasing velocity. It follows
that the great majority of particles cause only a temporary pollution of the
air medium. At the same time, in moving air and in the presence of convec-
tion currents, particles whose size does not exceed 10 y practically fail to
settle. Particles less than 0.1 y in size are constantly in a hovering
state because of Brownian molecular motion (impacts of gas molecules). In
accordance with the above, at the present time, dust is considered to be a
dispersed phase of an aerosol with particles larger than 0.1 y in size, and
smoke, with a particle size 0.1 y or smaller.
The chief source of pollution of air with dust and smoke are practically
the same as with vapor and gaseous impurities. They are the emissions of
industrial enterprises, electric and thermoelectric power plants, boiler
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rooms of residential and public buildings, and railroad transportation.
The formation of soil dust considerably promotes the imperfection of street
coatings.
A special role in the pollution of atmospheric air with noxious impur-
ities is played by smoke. The latter consists of a mixture of air with solid
and gaseous products of fuel undergoing combustion. The largest amounts of
dust, with high contents of soot, carbon black and carbon monoxide, are
evolved primarily in cases where there is an incomplete combustion of fuel as
a result of an insufficient supply of oxygen to the source of combustion.
However, even when the fuel combustion is complete, as in the case of boiler
rooms of large industrial enterprises and electric and thermoelectric power
plants, particularly when low-grade fuel is used, atmospheric air is polluted
with fly ash, particles of unburned coal and sulfurous anhydride discharged
together with the flue gases. The degree of pollution of atmospheric air of
populated areas by these impurities depends, on the one hand, on the content
in the fuel of ballast substances — ash and sulfur, whose quantity is deter-
mined by the type of fuel, and on the other hand, by the structure of the
furnace. For example, the combustion of coal dust discharges into the air
75-80% of the ash contained in the fuel, and when lump coal is used, only
25-30%. It has been established that the combustion of 1 ton of anthracite
coal may discharge into atmospheric air about 120 kg of ash in the form of
smoke. It should be added that along with the flue gases, particles of the
coal itself are carried into the air. In contrast to anthracite coal, some
forms of liquid fuel (particularly mazut) contain a minimum amount of ballast
substances, so that no discharge of dust particles takes place.
If the concentrations of atmospheric pollutants are regularly determined
on the plant site itself and at various distances from it, one can establish
that these pollutants spread over many thousands of meters depending on the
direction and velocity of the wind, character of the polluting substances,
and humidity of the air. Studies have shown that the highest concentrations
are observed on the plant site near the object emitting the pollution (shop,
plant complex, production unit, etc.). The content of noxious impurities
decreases with increasing distance from the pollution source, but the zone of
their propagation reaches 5-6 km, and in some cases more.
Of major hygienic importance is the zonal distribution of atmospheric
pollutants. To this day cases are observed in which atmospheric pollutants
(primarily in areas with old buildings and planning) reach residential dis-
tricts, polluting urban air reservoirs. Such atmospheric pollutants have an
adverse effect on the health of the population, on the surrounding vegetation,
and on the microclimate.
The influence on the health of the population is determined primarily by
the fact that a constant exposure to polluted air is a factor predisposing to
the appearance of various diseases of the respiratory system. In persons
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living in areas where the atmospheric air is constantly polluted with
noxious vapors, gases or dust, the content of which never reaches toxic
values, inflammations of the respiratory tract and nasopharynx still occur
more frequently than among the population of "clean" areas. Ash and dust
particles discharged with the flue gases cause not only an irritation of
the mucous membranes, but also chronic inflammatory processes of the con-
junctive. As was shown by studies made in recent years, prolonged inhalation
of small amounts of toxic substances makes people feel worse, injures their
health, decreases their working capacity, and has an adverse effect on the
resistance of the organism to infectious diseases (especially in children).
All of the above concerning the effect of atmospheric pollutants on
people, the animal world, and vegetation can be confirmed by several examples.
It is known that some petroleum refineries and plants in the U.S.A. use high-
sulfur petroleum as fuel. In one of the states where such plants are located,
a broad medical survey of the population was conducted. Results of the sur-
vey showed that persons who complained of unpleasant odors had various patho-
logical symptoms of a general character: headache, insomnia, difficult
breathing, irritation of the upper respiratory tract. All these symptoms
arose periodically in connection with the appearance of noxious impurities in
the atmosphere. All of the symptoms described frequently led to an increased
fatigue, a reduction of working capacity and functional disturbances of the
nervous system. In a survey of the status of the health of 1322 young school-
children (Institute of General and Communal Hygiene, Academy of Medical
Sciences, USSR) residing in the area of discharges of a high-capacity central
heating-and-power plant, many essentially healthy children showed incipient
fibrous changes in the lungs, and the children themselves complained of fre-
quent headache, general weakness, irritation of the mucous membranes of the
eyes, rapid fatigability, etc. Similar complaints were voiced by the popu-
lation living in the area of a viscose plant in Belorussia, where pollution
of atmospheric air with carbon disulfide and sulfurous anhydride took place.
The adverse effect of atmospheric pollutants on cattle can be estimated
from the following fact recorded in the vicinity of one of the West German
plants: a large herd of cattle belonging to the population of the plant
settlement was completely annihilated. In addition, the population of the
settlement noted a marked decrease in the number of bees, the death of certain
species of wild animals, and damage co the vegetation even at a distance of
5 km from the plant. An unquestionable role in this event was played by the
pollution of air with sulfurous anhydride and dust containing arsenic, ferric
oxide, antimony, etc. There are numerous reports of the death of crowns and
destruction of foliage on trees in the vicinity of chemical plants. The
noxious influence of atmospheric pollutants also includes a deterioration of
the housing and living conditions of the population: as a result of the
unpleasant odors, many are deprived of the opportunity of opening the windows
and ventilating their dwellings, and there is contamination with soot and
carbon black of the external finish of buildings. Some industrial discharges
have a destructive effect on the metal roofs of residential and public
buildings.
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Particular attention should be given to the fact that certain carcin-
ogenic products are found in the composition of coal tar and dust. These
substances condense on the particles of ash and soot reaching atmospheric
air in the form of flue gases. This must be remembered, since certain types
of fuel containing carcinogenic compounds form very large amounts of flue
gases as a result of inadequate combustion. Sources of such atmospheric
pollution in cities may also be asphalt-concrete, roofing, Ruberoid and shale-
distilling plants. Comparative data on the spread of lung cancer among
inhabitants of various populated areas have shown that this disease more fre-
quently affects persons who reside for a long time in industrial cities where
the air reservoir is characterized by the presence of large amounts of atmos-
pheric pollutants.
Finally, the dust and smoke in the air reservoir of populated areas
decrease the transparency of the atmosphere, causing a reduction of the total
illumination and, what is particularly important, cause a considerable atten-
uation of the intensity of the ultraviolet part of solar radiation. Measure-
ments of illumination with scattered light in the industrial area of Moscow
and at a distance of 8-10 km from the center have established that within the
city limits, the illumination is 40-50% less. In comparison with the environs,
the intensity of solar radiation in Paris is 25-30% lower, in Baltimore, 50%,
and in Berlin, 67%.
Measures designed to protect the atmospheric air ofpopulated areas from
pollution by chemical and mechanical impurities. The struggle for atmospheric
air purity has now become the most important problem of Soviet hygiene. This
problem is being solved by preventive legislative measures: planning, techno-
logical and sanitary-technical measures. The decision of the Council of
Ministers of the USSR "On measures of control of atmospheric pollution and
improvement of sanitary-hygienic conditions of populated areas" (1949) forbids
ministries and services from putting enterprises and shops into operation
without first providing them with an efficient system of purification of
industrial emissions.
Under the law "On the Protection of Nature in the RSFSR", adopted in
1960, atmospheric air is treated as a component of nature, as a natural
resource subject to protection. The law charges executive committees, agencies,
institutions and other organizations with implementing a set of measures for
preventing the pollution of atmospheric air: introduction of rational tech-
nology excluding the penetration of noxious waste into the atmosphere, use of
efficient purification and recovery equipment, etc. The law requires a strict
observance of hygienic standards of atmospheric purity. One of the most
essential measures taken by the Soviet government in this direction is the
regulation of the maximum permissible concentrations of chemical and mechanical
impurities for the atmospheric air of populated areas, i.e., such contents for
which it is impossible to have either a direct action of these impurities on'
the human organism, living conditions, working capacity and subjective health,
or an indirect influence on health caused by a substantial loss of biologically
-------
valuable ultraviolet sunlight, a reduction of the transparency of the atmos-
phere, a deleterious effect on vegetation, etc. In other words, maximum
permissible concentrations are amounts of atmospheric pollutants that can-
not cause any harm to the health of the population. The values of these
concentrations are established by long-term experiments on animals, and the
permissible value is a concentration that after many days of exposure causes
no appreciable functional changes or biochemical reactions. The levels of
the maximum permissible concentrations should lie below the values at which
not only disturbances of reactivity, but even defensive or adaptive reactions
are observed.
The sanitary legislation of the USSR has adopted two values of concen-
trations for the maximum permissible levels of atmospheric pollutants: the
highest one-time and mean daily concentrations. The former concentration
represents the standard to which the highest concentration of the pollutant
observed in the atmosphere must be compared; the latter is the arithmetic
mean of values obtained in the course of a day by repeated measurements
recorded graphically, continuously or periodically. By comparing the values
of the pollutants, obtained by analyzing the air, with the regulated standards,
one can quantitatively characterize the content of noxious impurities, then
evaluate the purity of atmospheric air from a sanitary point of view.
Table 1 below gives the maximum permissible concentrations of certain
noxious impurities in the atmospheric air of populated areas (excerpted from
SN 245-63).
The presence of regulated maximum permissible concentrations of atmos-
pheric pollutants enables sanitary inspection agencies to recommend to enter-
prises the requirements for implementing technological and sanitary engineer-
ing measures in conformity with the sanitary legislation. The purpose of these
requirements is to protect the urban air reservoirs from industrial discharges
and to limit the content of noxious impurities in atmospheric air. In ratify-
ing projects for new construction of enterprises, electric power plants and
other facilities, the sanitary agencies have the right of dissent if the
documentation considered fails to stipulate installations for purifying indus-
trial discharges. Such installations include various dust- and gas-purification
systems which remove volatile aerosols and noxious gaseous impurities from the
flue gases. Unfortunately, modern engineering does not provide for a complete
removal of these substances from flue gases. For this reason, even in opera-
ting the most efficient purification equipment, it is necessary to provide for
the installation of sufficiently high plant stacks. Thanks to the latter, smoke
and ash are discharged into the zone of air currents moving rapidly above the
earth's surface.
Of considerable hygienic importance is the use as fuel of coal grades
with the lowest ash content, and the achievement of conditions of complete
fuel combustion. An important role in air pollution control is that of gasi-
fication and electrification of industrial processes, extensive use of gas and
- 7 -
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Table 1
Maximum Permissible Concentrations of Certain Noxious Impurities
in Atmospheric Air
Noxious Substance
1. Acrolein
2. Amyl acetate
3. Acetone
4. Benzene
5. Butyl acetate
6. Vinyl acetate
7. Dichloroethane
8. Methanol
9. Methyl acetate
10. Arsenic (inorganic
compounds except
arsine)
11. Carbon monoxide
12. Nitric oxide
13. Nontoxio dust
14. Metallic mercury
15. Sulfurous anhydride
16. Hydrogen sulfide
17. Carbon disulfide
18. Soot (carbon black)
19. Formaldehyde
20. Phenol
21. Fluorine compounds
22. Chlorine
23. Hydrogen chloride
2k. Ethyl acetate
Maximum Permissible,
Concentration, mg/m5
Highest
One-time
0,30
0,1
0,35
2,40
0,1
0,2
3.0
1.5
0.07
_
6.0
0,3
0.5
—
0,5
0.008
0,03
0,15
0,035
0,01
0,03
0,1
0,05
0,1 -
Mean Daily
0,10
x o.i
0.35
0,80
0,1
0.2
1.0
0.5
0,07
0,003
1,0
0,1
0.15
0,0003
0,15
0.008
0,01
0,05
0.012
0,01
0,01
0,03
0,015
0,1
electricity by consumers, introduction of central heating in towns, etc.
In all industrial plants, conditions should be created for preventing the
pollution of air with noxious impurities by perfecting the technology, seal-
ing the equipment, etc. In many cases, it is possible to recover the effluent
vapors, i.e., partly recycle valuable materials by removing them from the mix-
ture with air by means of absorbers, condensation of vapors, or distillation.
Both the recovery and the utilization of production waste aimed at the production
of valuable materials are very economical and are of considerable hygienic
importance.
Finally, the sanitary legislation of the USSR specifies planned measures
aimed at the protection of atmospheric air of industrial towns from chemical
and mechanical pollutants. These measures consist in the fact that in plan-
ning industrial enterprises, sanitary-protective zones representing minimal
distances (gaps) between the industrial facilities and residential areas of
the town are regulated. Sanitary-protective zones promote the dispersal of
industrial emissions and thus reduce the content of noxious impurities (With
increasing distance from the source of atmospheric pollution) to permissible
values. The width of the protective zone is established as a function of
- 8 -
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the toxicity of the discharged impurities and of the conditions of the
technological process (from 50 to 1000 m). At the same time, it is neces-
sary to consider the wind rose and arrange the residential areas on the
windward side in relation to the enterprises. For plants manufacturing
synthetic drugs, the width of the protective zone should be no less than
1000 m, and for plants producing alkaloids, galena preparations, organic
preparations, pharmaceutical potassium salts, etc., no less than 100 m.
In controlling street-dust air pollution, it is necessary to make use
of street sprinkling, mechanized cleaning, improved coatings, planting of
greenery, etc.
- 9 -
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PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT FROM POLLUTION
S. N. Cherkinskiy
Corresponding Member of the Academy of Medical Sciences, USSR
From Ministerstvo Sel'skogo Khozyaystva SSSR. Vsesoyuznyy Institut Nauchno-
Tekhnichskoy Informatsii po Sel'skomu Khozyaystvu. "Probleray Okhrany i
Ratsional'nogo Ispol1zovaniya Prirodnykh Resursov". (Sbornik). Moskva,
p. 38-42, (1968).
The protection of the environment from pollution is an extremely broad,
multifaceted and complex problem, both scientifically and in practice. The
concept of the environment itself includes both social and natural conditions.
Thus, a purely medical hygienic treatment of the subject is intimately related
to problems of nature as a whole.
As far back as 1919, the prophylactic character of Soviet health protec-
tion was defined, and the key measures aimed at the improvement of the environ-
ment included the need for sanitary protection of water and atmospheric air.
Among the many decisions by the party and government concerning steps toward
elimination of environmental pollution, a major importance was assumed by the
decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU and Soviet Ministers of the
USSR on "Steps Toward Further Improvement of Medical Services and Protection
of Public Health in the USSR" of 14 January 1960. The same year, a law was
enacted concerning the protection of nature in the RSFSR, article 12 of which
specifically mentions the sanitary protection of water sources and atmospheric
air.
Thus, our legislation specified a natural, organic bond between sanitary
objectives toward improvement of the environment and objectives of nature
preservation as a whole.
Nearly all countries in the world are faced with the problem of environ-
mental pollution. Chief cause of the latter is an immutable tendency toward
a rapid industrial development, which is accompanied by a no less rapid urban
development. In the last 100 years, the population of the globe has doubled,
whereas the urban population has quintupled, so that the amount of consumer
and industrial waste waters has increased sharply. Even more acute are the
manifestations of the effects of industrialization and urbanization on the
pollution of atmospheric air, since it is practically impossible to protect
the inhabitants of towns and industrial areas from a continuous and prolonged
influence of atmospheric pollution. Authentic disasters around industrial (
towns, particularly during periods of anticyclonic weather, fog and atmos-
pheric inversions have been recorded involving cases of massive intoxication.
- 10 -
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The committee of experts of the World Health Organization in a technical
report published in 1966 notes that in a world which is becoming urbanized
and industrialized at the current rates, it will be impossible to preserve
the environment in its natural state. The law should be aimed precisely at
the control of pollution. Soviet water sanitation legislation prohibits the
drainage of waste waters into water reservoirs and the discharge of pollutants
into atmospheric air, in accordance with the "Rules of Protection of Surface
Waters from Pollution by Waste Waters" (1961). The drainage of the following
waste waters into water reservoirs is prohibited:
1) waters that, when the technical and economic conditions are maintained,
can be eliminated by an appropriate technology with the maximum utilization of
the water supply in the return system, use of irrigation of fields with the
maintenance of necessary sanitary requirements, etc.;
2) waters containing valuable waste that can b'e utilized by the plant
concerned or other plants;
3) waters containing industrial waste, reagents, intermediate products
and target products in amounts exceeding the norms of allowed technological
losses established for the corresponding production by a supervising agency.
However, depending on the nature of the production process and character-
istics of the composition of industrial waste waters, and also the technical-
economic conditions, these requirements cannot by any means be always satisfied.
It thus becomes necessary to drain the waste waters into water reservoirs or
to discharge industrial pollutants into atmospheric air. The indicated rules
of protection of surface waters from pollution with waste waters state that
"when it becomes necessary to drain the waste waters because of the inadequacy
of the measures indicated in paragraph 7, or when it is impossible to fulfill
them for demonstrated technical-economic reasons, drainage of the waste waters
into water reservoirs can be permitted only if the requirements and standards
set forth in the present regulations are observed."
An achievement of our science and practical experience is the determina-
tion of the purity criterion and, conversely, of the concept of pollution of
the environment - atmospheric air and water reservoirs. The concept of pol-
lution is understood to mean the following: surface waters are considered
polluted if their composition or properties have changed under the direct or
indirect influence of industrial activity and everyday living conditions of
the population, and they have become unsuitable for one or several types of
water use. The onset of pollution,of the environment is determined from
purity standards, i.e., such values of the indices of composition and proper-
ties that express the interests and requirements of the population in regard
to the quality of water and atmospheric air.
Accordingly, the hygienic criterion of harmfulness of pollutants reach-
ing the environment is a degree of its pollution which has an adverse effect
- 11 -
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on the health of the population. A hygienic standard is an index of the
composition and properties of the environment which excludes an adverse
influence on health and ensures favorable living .conditions for the popula-
tion. Thus, a scientifically validated definition of the concept of environ-
mental pollution, together with a practical application of hygienic standards
of the composition of the environment, have imparted the necessary concrete-
ness to the practice of sanitary control.
Hygienic standards have begun to serve as the fundamental guidelines
for those who are charged with fulfilling the requirements of sanitation
agencies and those charged with their implementation. This role of standards
is also predetermined by their inclusion in sanitary legislation, which is
undergoing a major development with each passing year. As a result of the
many years of activity of many sanitary-hygienic institutes in this country,
standards have been developed for the most common industrial pollutants reach-
ing the water reservoirs (for approximately 200 substances). For atmospheric
pollutants of the air of populated areas, standards have been approved for
approximately 70 substances.
Since the standards reflect the interests of public health, which is
affected only by water from water sources and by atmospheric air, the stan-
dards pertain only to the water of reservoirs at points where the water is
used, and also to atmospheric air on the territory of these populated areas.
The standards are worked out from a hygienic standpoint and are validated
mainly by lengthy experimental studies. The latter involve all modem physi-
ological, pathophysiological, sanitary-toxicological, biochemical, histologi-
cal and histochemical studies and also the usual sanitary-chemical and sanitary-
bacteriological investigations.
Such a comprehensive approach to the study of noxious substances enter-
ing the water reservoirs and atmospheric air makes it possible to detect a
danger, i.e., the character of harmful effects of industrial pollutants, and
at the same time, by testing a series of doses or concentrations, the level
of their harmlessness. The observed harmless concentrations or doses of
industrial pollutants are used as the basis for the standards. Hygienic
standards are designed for protection of the environment in the interests of
public health, but in addition, in their overwhelming majority, they play a
wider role in the protection of nature from pollution. For example, 1/5 of
all the standards for sanitary protection of water reservoirs are determined
from general sanitary indications of harmfulness, i.e., with the condition of
preservation of the normal course of the processes in which the pollution is
spontaneously removed from the water reservoirs. At the same time, 4/5 of the
adopted standards for water reservoirs are established on the basis of sanitary-
toxicological and organoleptic indices of harmfulness and are thus considerably
lower than those in die presence of which the natural processes of self-purifi-
cation of water reservoirs take place.
- 12 -
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In recent years, the conditions of the joint, combined effect of
several noxious substances on the organism have also been studied, this
being frequently the case in the pollution of water reservoirs and atmos-
pheric air, particularly in industrial areas, in the presence of many
industrial enterprises whose processes have different effects. Soviet
hygienic science was the first to detect and establish the principle of
simple summation of the action of these substances on the organism. This
makes it necessary to decrease the maximum permissible concentration of each
individual noxious substance by as many times as there are such substances
participating in the complex. This principle was also adopted in our sani-
tary legislation; the sanitary requirements for protection of the environment
from pollution have become more substantiated and rigorous.
In the development of scientific bases and principles of Soviet sanitary
legislation in the area of protection of water and .atmospheric air, Soviet
hygienic science and sanitary practice have far outdistanced everything
that has been done abroad. Nor was the international recognition that they
received accidental. This legislation formed the basis of official agreement
between eight socialist countries' members of the Council of Economic Mutual
Assistance (CEMA).
Particular attention should be given to the implementation of require-
ments of sanitary legislation regarding the protection of the water and air
of populated areas. Improvement of sanitary protection of air is favored by
measures involving a general improvement of the living conditions of the
population, i.e., gasification of apartments and central heating in towns and
industrial centers, resulting in a substantial decrease in the amount of dis-
charges into atmospheric air.
It is necessary to intensify the work of all scientific research insti-
tutions and planning agencies that are responsible for protecting the environ-
ment from pollution. A central organizing agency is needed that would super-
vise the practical activity in this area and provide for appropriate financing
of all-important measures.
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FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF SANITARY SCIENCE AND PRACTICE IN CONNECTION WITH THE
DEVELOPMENT OF INDUSTRY IN THE UKRAINIAN SSR AND WAYS OF SOLVING THEM
M. N. Mel'nik
Public Health Ministry of the Ukrainian SSR
From Minlsterstvo Zdravookhraneniya UkrSSR, L'vovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Epidemiclogii i Mikrobiologii. "Faktory Vneshney Sredy i Ikh Znachenie
Dlya Zdorov'ya Naseleniya". Respublikanskiy Mezhvedomstvennyy Sbornik. Vypusk
pervyy. "Zdorov'ya", Kiev, p. 5-12, (1969).
With great enthusiasm, the Soviet people are implementing the grandiose
outlines of the program of the CPSS developed by the 23rd Party Congress and
successfully solving the chief economic problem of creating a material and
technological base for Communism.
The implementation of the formulated problem is tied up with a vigorous
growth of industry in this country, giving rise to a number of sanitary ques-
tions demanding a concrete solution both on the part of practical health pro-
tection agencies and on the part of sanitary science.
In the Ukrainian SSR, all the prerequisites exist for a successful solu-
tion of the chief problem dictated by life, i. e., the improvement of sanita-
tion of working and living conditions, which is possible only when a high
principle is pursued, namely, everything in the name of man and for the good
of man, a principle being pursued by the Communist Party in this country.
An extensive network of sanitary epidemiclogical institutions with well-
equipped laboratories has been created in the Ukrainian Republic, and there
are 10 scientific research institutes of sanitary-hygienic character. About
7000 physicians and scientists are working in sanitary epidemiclogical in-
stitutions, scientific research institutes, and hygiene departments of medi-
cal institutes.
In the final solution of the problem of amelioration of the environ-
ment in the presence of a rapidly developing industry, a prime importance is
assumed by a number of major questions involving the improvement of the lay-
out of populated areas, protection of atmospheric air, soil and open water
reservoirs, and also the improvement of working conditions for the workers....*
In order to improve the sanitary conditions of the air reservoir, a
number of measures of both organizational and technical character are being
carried out in the Republic.
* Editor's note: Ellipsis points indicate the omission of material not relevant to the specific
subject of air pollution.
- 14 -
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Considerable appropriations are allocated each year to the implementa-
tion of measures aimed at the protection of atmospheric air. In the last
few years, 200 dust and gas purification installations have been constructed,
and hundreds of industrial enterprises and heating boilers have been convert-
ed to gas operation.
It was shown experimentally that a properly organized dust collection may
substantially reduce the discharge of industrial dust into atmospheric air.
Thus, measures taken at the cement plant in Dneprodzerzhinsk made it possible
to reduce the cement dust loss from 300 tons per day in 1948 to 16.5 tons per
day in 1966.
It should be noted that a successful implementation of measures aimed
at sanitary protection of atmospheric air also has a positive effect on the
economic indices of the enterprises. At the Krivoy Rog southern ore-dress-
ing complex, a special service numbering 130 persons has been established
for supervision, heavy and maintenance repairs, and the determination of the
efficiency of ventilation systems and installations for purifying discharges
into the atmosphere. Measures taken at the complex for the purpose of in-
creasing the efficiency of operation of dust-collecting units and also a fix-
ed daily competent control of their operation resulted in a decrease of dust
loss at the complex from 100 tons per day in 1962 to 20 tons per day in 1966.
From the crushing, dressing and sintering departments the collected dust is
recycled into the process as a pulp. In particular, at the sintering plants,
the amount of dust recovered amounts to 480-570 tons per year, with an iron
content of up to 51%. The economic effect of this measure amounts to 1710
thousand rubles per year. At the Kramatorskiy metallurgical plant im.
Kuybyshev, a gas purification unit for a blast furnace producing ferromanga-
nese pig iron was constructed, eliminating a discharge of 25,000 mr of blast
furnace gas per hour; a bleeder was constructed for burning up the excess
blast furnace gas, and the consumption of solid fuel at the electric blower
plant was reduced tenfold.
Thus, wherever they are fully implemented, measures aimed at protecting
the air result in a considerable reduction in the pollution of the air reser-
voir. However, the question of protection of atmospheric air still remains
urgent and its solution should be given considerable attention.
It is necessary to turn the attention of technological, planning and
scientific research institutes to the development of methods for recovering
chemical substances from discharges into the atmosphere and utilizing them.
Thus, far, there has been no effective method of trapping sulfurous anhydride
from the flue gases of electric power plants, hydrogen sulfide from the venti-
lation discharges of synthetic fiber plants, nitrogen oxides from nitrogen
fertilizer plants, etc. The air of a number of industrial towns and workers'
settlements continues to be polluted with the discharges of industrial enter-
prises and exhaust gases of automobiles.
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For many years, in planning new industrial facilities, the planning
agencies did not consider the pollution of air by the existing industry.
Calculations to determine the discharges of new plants into the atmosphere
did not take into account the existing total concentration of the substances
polluting the air. For this reason, at the present time, further develop-
ment of industry in individual industrial towns is envisaged as a function
of the decrease in the general background of atmospheric pollutants.
Measures aimed at protecting the atmospheric air should be initiated
during the very first stage of construction, i. e., in the blueprints of the
enterprise. On the recommendation of agencies of the sanitary service, the
State Committee on Construction of the Ukrainian SSR issued a decree order-
ing all the planning agencies to work out measures for the protection of
atmospheric air in the projects of general plans for urban development.
Thus, the negative influence of rapidly developing industry on the ex-
ternal environment - air and water reservoirs - can be reduced and even com-
pletely eliminated by carrying out certain prompt and radical measures. In
the future, the efforts of scientists and technicians should be directed at
finding the most effective methods of purification and utilization of sub-
stances in waste waters and discharges into the atmosphere that are useful
to the national economy.
The rapid development of the chemical industry and the broad scale of
introduction of chemical products into various sectors of the national
economy and every day life have made the problem of hygienic and toxico-
logical evaluation of new chemical preparations one of the most pressing ones.
Moreover, the wide use of toxic substances in agriculture and forestry, and
in railroad and water transportation, demanded from the sanitary epidemio-
logical service the introduction of effective control measures designed to
protect the environment from pollution with pesticides.
Much has already been done to solve this major economic problem. Thus,
laboratories have been created at regional sanitary-epidemiological stations
in order to control the accumulation of toxic chemicals in agricultural
products and objects of the external environment. In 1960, the content of
such chemicals was being studied by six laboratories; in 1965 by 242, and in
1968, by 320. The number of studies also increased considerably: in 1960,
507 analyses of food products, feeds and objects in the external environ-
ment were carried out; in 1968, 58,772 studies of food products and of
4,128 objects of the external environment were made....
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LOCAL INDUSTRIAL POLLUTION OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR
K. N. Blagosklonov, A. A. Inozemtsev, and V. N. Tikhomirov
From "Okhrana Prirody", K. N. Blagosklonov, A. A. Inozemtsev, V. N. Tikhomirov.
Pod redakatsiey Prof. N. A. Gladkova. Izdatel'stvo "Vysshaya Shkola", Moskva,
p. 88-89, (1967).
Protection of air - a sanitary and economic problem. The problem of con-
trol of noxious aerosols is one of the most pressing in the 20th century. We
live our entire life on the botoom of a great ocean of aerosols. There is no
such thing as clean air in the world: with each breath we inhale countless
fine particles suspended in the air (Petryanov, 1962).
Smoke, noxious gases and other atmospheric pollutants are the source of
many inconveniences and discomforts, chief of which'is the deterioration of
human health. Polluted air is harmful to health, and that is why the problem
of atmospheric air purity is first and foremost a sanitary one, and is urgent
throughout the world. Scientific congresses are being convened, a special
literature is being published, associations are being organized, and thousands
of doctors, chemists, physicists, economists, and engineers are working to
solve the problem of air purity, primarily in urban areas.
According to the Program of the CPSU, this country in the near future will
see the implementation of broad measures in municipal construction and environ-
mentally oriented planning of all towns and workers' settlements, which require
the "implement at ion of a system of steps aimed at further improvement of living
conditions in towns and other populated areas, including their planting with
greenery, irrigation, and a resolute struggle with the pollution of air, soil
and water."*
Industry is the main source of pollution of with with noxious impurities.
The utilization of the products which are now causing damage as a result of
their presence in the atmosphere would yield great economy. Electric power
plants alone, which burn Moscow coal, could yield up to 500 thousand tons of
sulfur dioxide per year, a raw material for the chemical industry. Equip-
ping cement plants with dust collectors would yield an additional 400 thou-
sand tons of fine cement flour and 1.5 million tons of raw material per year.
The loss of valuable industrial waste in the U.S.A. is estimated at $1.5
billion, i.e., more than $10 per capita. This figure is larger than the amounts
spent on enterprises working on prevention of atmospheric pollution (Kletter,
1961). Today it is understood by everyone that smoke constitutes evidence of
squandering of valuable fuel and is an indication of low production efficiency,
and that atmospheric pollution brings harm to the health of the population
(Ryazanov, 1962). However, even today the negligence of plant directors, often
criminal, interferes with the achievement of the necessary degree of air purity
in our cities and towns.
Transactions of 22nd Congress of the CPSU. Gospolitizdat, 1961, p. 991.
- 17 -
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Sources of pollution. Natural dust is always present in the atmosphere;
it is indispensable to the condensation of moisture. The origin of natural
dust may be threefold: mineral dust from the lithpsphere, i. e., dust in the
commonly accepted sense of the term; organic dust - residue of creatures that
live or come into the atmosphere, and cosmic dust - residue of meteorites
burned whild crossing the atmosphere.
Mineral dust may be present in the atmosphere in high concentration, for
example, during the so-called "black storms," but that is due to the activity
of man.
There is one more type of atmospheric pollution, the so-called "indus-
trial dust" and gases. This may be fly ash, soot, various dispersed indus-
trial products (cement, phosphorites), sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, hy-
drogen sulfide, carbon disulfide, chlorine, nitrogen oxides, compounds of
lead, mercury, etc.
Products entering the air in the largest amounts are solid and gaseous
impurities resulting from the combustion of coal.
In the absence of purification devices, almost all of the dust escapes
into the air with flue gases. The scale of this process is enormous; for ex-
ample, in England, 200 million tons of coal and 20 million tons of petroleum
are consumed each year. The combustion of this fuel produces 2.1 million
tons of smoke and soot, 5.3 million tons of sulfur dioxide, and 24 million tons
of carbon monoxide. The smoke and soot contain a multitude of complex or-
ganic compounds, and some of them, as was found on experimental animals, may
cause cancers (Louter, 1959).
The chief source of industrial dust are thermoelectric power plants. A
steamplant of average capacity burns 2 thousand tons of coal per day, and if
there is no purification, discharges around 400 tons (content of 26 railroad
cars) of fly ash and 120 tons of sulfur dioxide into the air.
Second in importance as a source of atmospheric pollution with ash is
railroad transport. Until just a few years ago, locomotives of the Moscow
Railroad Terminal discharged into the atmosphere over 80 thousand tons of
incompletely burned carbon and ash and 16-20 thousand tons of sulfur dioxide
within a 30 km radius around the capital. Conversion of Moscow's railroads
to electric traction has sharply reduced the smoke pollution of the suburbs.
Additional substitution of diesel locomotives for shunting engines improved
the situation even more.
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STUDY OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR POLLUTED WITH EMISSIONS
FROM A GAS PROCESSING PLANT
M. P. Bida
Dolina Sanitary Epidemiological Station
From Ministerstvo Zdravookhraneniya Ukr.SSR, L'vovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Epidemiologii i Mikrobiologii. "Faktory vneshney sredy i ikh znachenie
dlya zdorov'ya naseleniya". Respublikanskiy mezhvedomstvennyy sbornik. Vypusk
2. "Zdorov'ya", Kiev, p. 170-173, (1970).
In view of the high rate of development of the petroleum and petrochemi-
cal industries, the problems of protection of atmospheric air in populated
areas from pollution by emissions from petroleum refineries and petrochemi-
cal plants have assumed an urgent importance.
Data characterizing the pollution of atmospheric air by emissions from
gas-processing plants are lacking in the available literature. Yet the need
for this type of studies is evident. The existing studies deal mainly with
the aspects of the state of atmospheric air in areas where petroleum is pro-
duced.
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the sanitary state
of the air reservoir in the area around a gas-processing plant. The main
products of a gas-processing plant are propane, butane, isobutane, and stable
gasoline; the raw material is natural gas - associated petroleum gas, which
is separated after leaving the oil well. The gas is sent in gas conduits to
plant purification installations and is gradually compressed in compressor
sections to a pressure of 32 atmospheres. After each compression stage, the
gas goes through a processing cycle involving two oil separators and three
pairs of condensers followed by separation. The gas is then dried and odor-
ized, and sent to the gas main from the final compressor section at a pres-
sure of 45 atmospheres.
The gas is fractionated in gas-fractionating units in which the gas
mixture is dissolved in an absorbent, then the various gas fractions are
desorbed.
On the basis of the production process, it could have been expected that
various organic substances, chiefly hydrocarbons, excape into the atmosphere.
Because of the great variety of hydrocarbons discharged into the air and their
different toxicities, a total determination of each of them excludes the possi-
bility of a sanitary evaluation. Chemical methods of individual determination
of hydrocarbons in atmospheric air are insufficiently advanced, and therefore
certain authors (M. A. Krasovitskaya, T. S. Zaporozhets, A. S. Sobolev, 1963)*
used the chromathermographic method for the individual determination of hydro-
carbons; this method has become universally recognized in the last few years
as the most efficient in separating and analyzing the components of complex
mixtures.
* Editor's note: A bibliography does not accompany this paper.
- 19 -
-------
In the chromathermographic determination of hydrocarbons in air, we
used a KhT-2M chromathermograph employed for separating gaseous mixtures
in industrial laboratories. The instrument consists of a chromatographic
column with stepped electrical heating, a gas analyzer where the combustion
of the desorbed component takes place, and a recording instrument - an elec-
tronic potentiometer. The following conditions for carrying out the analyses
were determined experimentally: voltage on the shoulder elements, 1.9 V;
velocity of carrier air, 130 ml/min; pressure of carrier air at entrance to
column, 1.6 atmospheres.
The samples were collected by drawing the air studied through a Y .tube
filled with an adsorbent (silica gel, grain size 0.5 mm), and the suction
velocity of the air during the collection was 3 1/min. In summer, the tube
was placed in a cooling mixture (ice with salt) during the collection, and
in winter the sampling was done without a cooling mixture.
In the majority of cases, the volume of air taken for analysis was from
20 to 50 1. The instrument was placed in the path of the carrier air stream
and the accumulated hydrocarbons gradually heated to 100°C. were eluted and
transferred to the separatory column of the instrument.
A total of 30 samples of atmospheric air were collected by the itinerary
method at distances of 100, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000 and 5000 m. Simulta-
neously, the following meteorological factors were considered: temperature
of atmospheric air, barometric pressure, humidity of air, direction and ve-
locity of the wind. The studies showed the following saturated hydrocarbons
to be present in the atmospheric air of the gas-processing plant: methane in
16% of the samples studied, ethane in 40%, propane in 81%, butane in 28%,
heptane in 4%, hexane in 21%, and pentane in 96%. The gas concentration de-
creased with increasing distance from the source of emissions.
The table below shows the maximum one-time concentrations of the above-
indicated gases, determined in atmospheric air at different distances from
the pollution source.
Table.
Pollution of Atmospheric Air with Hydrocarbons in the
Zone of the Gas-processing Plant.
Distance
from
source of
pollution,
n>
100
250
500
1000
2000
3000
6000
Content of hydrocarbons, ng/nr (maximum one-tine concentrations
Methane
90
90
27
2,2
54
—
Ethane
316
272
50
4,7
8
—
Propane
116
131
22
116
18
44
— -
Butane
110
104
23
71
20
110
—~
Pentane
21
48
26
26
64
9*6
8
Hexane
16
21
1,6
—
64
3,2
*— "
Heptane
_
_
—
—
0,54
—
^
- 20 -
-------
Within a radius of 250 m from the plant, the average concentration was
65.4 mg/m3 for propane, 38.4 mg/nr for butane, and 28.4 mg/m for pentane.
At more distant points from the plant, the content of hydrocarbons de-
creases, but the pollution of the atmosphere at points located at a distance
of 1000-3000 m nevertheless remains significant: propane 45 mg/m3, butane
27.8 mg/m3, and pentane 7 mg/nr.
The studies showed that the concentration of hydrocarbons in atmospheric
air depends on the meteorological factors. Thus, during the winter-fall
period, the concentration of hydrocarbons is higher than during the spring-
summer period. The maximum one-time concentrations of the individual pol-
lutants at average wind velocities (5-6 m/sec) are: propane 131.5 mg/m3,.
butane 110 mg/m3, pentane 64 mg/m3, heptane 5.3 mg/nr, and hexane 21 mg/m3.
Thus, the gas-processing plant constitutes a source of pollution of
atmospheric air with a mixture of saturated hydrocarbons. The dynamics of
propagation of the gases are influenced by the temperature of atmospheric
air and its velocity. A substantial concentration of gases discharged by
the gas-process ing plant is found at distances from 100 to 3000 m, whereas
at 5000 m only pentane is detected.
- 21 -
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FERROUS METALLURGY AS A SOURCE OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION
M. I. Gusev and Ye. V. Yelfimova
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Erismana. "Voprosy gigieny atmosfernogo vozdukha i
planirovki naselennykh mest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 5-9, (1968).
The sanitary protection of atmospheric air from pollution by industrial
emissions has become one of the chief problems in present-day communal hygiene.
The solution of these problems has attracted the interest of specialists and
scientists in various professional fields.
In the last 15 years, considerable work has been done in the USSR on the
biological effect and sanitary characteristics of noxious substances present
in atmospheric air up to concentration levels which do not affect the organ-
ism. The maximum permissible concentrations (MPC) have now been approved for
67 substances, and the number of sanitary standards being worked on is in
excess of 100 names of toxic compounds that can be discharged into the atmos-
phere by industrial enterprises. MPC have been adopted and are being estab-
lished for a number of toxic agents for their combined action on the organism.
The research data are being widely discussed in the periodical literature and
also in special publications entitled "Maximum Permissible Concentrations of
Atmospheric Pollutants". However, there are still few comprehensive studies
describing the pollution of atmospheric air and its effect on the surrounding
population, and involving a sanitary standardization of the toxic agents in
accordance with the types of industrial plants or branches of industry. The
chief sources of atmospheric pollution are industrial enterprises located
and operated without the observance of sanitary principles. The most impor-
tant of these sources may well be ferrous metallurgical plants.
For a number of years, the F. F. Erisman Institute has been studying
the degree of pollution and nature of the noxious substances discharged into
the atmosphere by ferrous metallurgical plants. An investigation was made
on one metallurgical complex (No. 1) and on two metallurgical plants (Nos. 2
and 3). The air around the plants was studied according to seasons (spring,
summer, and fall). Its content of sulfur dioxide, phenol, carbon monoxide,
hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and benzene was determined. In the present paper
we shall consider only some of these indicators (phenol and sulfur dioxide).
Around the metallurgical complex, the highest sulfur dioxide and phenol con-
centrations were found at a distance of 3 km from the points of discharge,
and they were 11 times greater than the MPC of sulfur dioxide and many times
greater than that of phenol.
In the area of metallurgical plant No. 2, the sulfur dioxide concentra-
tion at a distance of 500 m from the discharge was 1.6-1.2 times greater than
- 22 -
-------
the MFC, and in the 1000 m zone, 1.4 times greater. The phenol concentra-
tions at a distance of 500 m from the points of discharge were 30-38 times
greater than the MFC. At a distance of 1000 m, the phenol concentration
was 28-30 times greater, and at 3000 m, 13-10 times greater than the sanitary
norm.
Data for the area around metallurgical plant No. 3 showed that the
highest concentrations of sulfur dioxide were observed in the 3 km zone,
where the excess over the maximum single MFC was 5.2-3.8-fold. The phenol
concentrations were 35-20 times greater than the MFC in the 1000 m zone,
18-7 times greater in the 3000 m zone, and even at a distance of 5000 m,
3.5-2 times greater.
In connection with the start of nitrogen fertilizer production based
on ammonia synthesis within metallurgical plant No.- 3, a second analysis of
atmospheric air for the gas content was performed. An increase in the content
of ammonia was observed as compared with the preceding year: 8.5-fold in the
500 m zone and 4.9-fold in the 1000 m zone.
The high concentrations of industrial pollutants in the atmosphere served
as the basis for studying the influence of these discharges on the sanitary
living conditions of the population and on the health of the children living
in the areas surrounding these plants. Here we shall consider only certain
indicators characterizing the influence of atmospheric emissions on the popu-
lation living in the area of metallurgical plant No. 3 prior to the start of
the nitrogen fertilizer production. To this end, the population was questioned,
and a thorough medical survey was made among schoolchildren of grades 1-3
residing in two neighborhoods of the city with different degrees of atmospheric
pollution with industrial discharges of the metallurgical plant. The heaviest
atmospheric pollution with industrial emissions was observed in the zone from
1000 to 3000 m from the points of discharge in the plant settlement. This
area was taken as the main neighborhood where one of the schools surveyed was
located.
The control taken was a second neighborhood located at a distance of
5000-7000 m to the northwest of the metallurgical plant, where the other school
being surveyed was located.* .'
In the main neighborhood, 185 adults were questioned. They all complained
of the unpleasant odor of the gases from the plant, which are perceived the
year round, causing difficult breathing in 58% of those questioned, headache
in 65%, cough in 43%, and irritation and dust in the eyes in 63%. The discom-
fort increase during the early morning and evening hours, in cloudy weather,
and particularly in the fall, when a strong wind is present. Many of those
questioned (95-85%) mentioned a high content of dust in the air, which adversely
* The medical survey of the schoolchildren v»s carried out by specialists from the clinical section of
the Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Hygiene im. F. F. Erisman.
- 23 -
-------
affects the purity of air in apartments and causes clothing to become dirty;
it is difficult to aerate the living quarters or to dry the laundry in the
open air.
In the control area, 149 persons were questioned: 40% of these did
not voice any complaints regarding the odor of gases, and 18% noted that
sometimes when the wind was strong during the summer, there were faint odors
of plant "fumes", occasionally causing cough and even nausea.
The medical survey in the main group included 504 persons, and in the
control group, 492 persons. The age-sex composition and the length of
residence of the children in both neighborhoods were approximately the same.
Results of the survey showed that the total number of illnesses exposed
in the main group was twice as high, and illnesses of the upper respiratory
tract 2.5 times as high as in the control group. Otolaryngological examina-
tions showed a high incidence of disorders of the respiratory tract due to
chronic inf 1 animatery processes of the muccosa of the nose and pharynx, includ-
ing atrophic and hypertrophic symptoms, chronic tonsillitis, and adenoid
enlargement. Among schoolchildren of the main area, such illnesses were dis-
covered in 14.3%, and in the control group in only 6.4%.
Biochemical analyses of the blood of schoolchildren in the main group
showed the presence of sulfur dioxide in the blood, ranging from traces to
0.06 mg % (normally, the blood contains no sulfur dioxide). A steady exposure
to atmospheric air polluted by industrial emissions from metallurgical plants
has an adverse effect on the defense functions of a child's organism. This
is confirmed by the amount of vitamin C in the blood and by the extent of its
excretion from the o-ganism with the urine. Thus, the excretion of vitamin C
with the urine in schoolchildren of the main area was much less than in those
of the control group.
Data of a neurological survey showed that children residing in the
polluted neighborhood complained of headache twice as often, nausea 10 times,
dizziness 5 times, and nosebleeds twice as often as the control group, etc.
In this group of children there was a prevalence of functional disorders of
the central nervous system, an increased fatigability and excitability, a
decreased attentiveness, and a weakening of muscular strength.
Children of the main group showed a certain lag in physical development
compared with schoolchildren of the control group. The main group also had
more undernourished children and children with posture defects.
Hematological shifts in children residing in the area with polluted; ;
atmospheric air correlate to some extent with the above-mentioned prevalence
of inflammatory illnesses of the upper respiratory tract compared with the
control group.
- 24 -
-------
Thus, the results of the studies show that in areas around metallurgical
plants the atmospheric air is heavily polluted with industrial discharges.
The composition of the latter includes highly toxic substances that have an
adverse effect on the well-being of the adult population and on the health of
the children residing in the zone with polluted atmospheric air.
The MFC for many toxic agents discharged into the atmosphere by ferrous
metallurgical plants have already been established. Some of them have been
confirmed without the determination of the maximum inactive concentrations
under experimental conditions. The MFC have not yet been established for
certain ingredients discharged by enterprises of this type. No studies have
been made on the combined action of gaseous substances with one another and
in combination with aerosols (dust). Yet the abundance of dust around metal-
lurgical plants is sharply increasing as a result of the introduction of con-
verter production of steel.
In the establishment of the maximum inactive concentration of sulfur
dioxide in atmospheric air for conditions of a three-month chronic exposure,
a concentration of this gas equal to 0.1 mg/m3 was found to be active, as
demonstrated by a number of physiological and biochemical tests. On this
basis, the mean daily maximum permissible concentration for sulfur dioxide,
established at 0.15 mg/m3, should be decreased.
The laboratory of the Institute's sanitary atmospheric protection
department established the highest single and mean daily maximum permissible
concentrations of ammonia at the level of 0.2 mg/m3 of air. These studies
are a part of a comprehensive project of study of atmospheric pollution
around the metallurgical plant, where there is an increase in the discharge
of ammonia as a result of the start of operation of the nitrogen fertilizer
section.
Studies of sulfur dioxide in combination with phenol established that
the combined effect of this interaction is analogous to a simple summation,
and the highest single concentration expressed in parts of the MFC for each
of them in isolated action should not exceed unity. The mean daily MFC of
sulfur dioxide and phenol present together in atmospheric air is recommended
at the following levels: for sulfur dioxide 0.05 mg/m3, and for phenol
0.005 mg/m3.
A simple summation of the effect is also noted for phenol in combination
with carbon monoxide. This is characteristic of both the reflex and resorp-
tive effect of these substances on the human and animal organism.
In order to enhance further the sanitary measures aimed at protecting
the atmosphere in areas around metallurgical plants, it is necessary to:
1. Study the biological effect and make a sanitary evaluation of the
combined influence of gaseous substances with aerosols on the organism and
- 25 -
-------
to establish the sanitary norms of toxic substances in atmospheric air.
Determine the extent of pollution of atmospheric air and its influence
on the sanitary living conditions and health of the population; take steps
to eliminate the adverse effects of noxious substances specific for a given
type of production.
2. Focus particular attention on the establishment of sanitary pro-
tective zones between ferrous metallurgical plants and residential areas.
3. Emphasize laboratory verification of the efficacy of measures
aimed at the introduction of new methods for purifying discharges into the
atmosphere and the efficacy of steps involved in modifying technological
processes and increasing the industrial capacity of enterprises.
- 26 -
-------
ISOLATED AND COMBINED ACTION ON THE ORGANISM OF CERTAIN TOXIC AGENTS
DISCHARGED INTO THE ATMOSPHERE BY FERROUS METALLURGICAL PLANTS
Ye. V. Yelfimova and M. I. Gusev
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Erismana. "Voprosy gigieny atmosfernogo vozdukha i
planirovki naselennykh mest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 66-74, (1968).
The main sources of pollution of atmospheric air are industrial enter-
prises whose emplacement and operation are not consistent with sanitary re-
gulations and norms. Among the largest sources of atmospheric pollution are
ferrous metallurgical plants, which pollute the air w,ith their emissions of
gaseous toxic substances and dust.
In recent years, the Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Hygiene im.
F. F. Erisman has been studying the atmospheric pollution around metallurgi-
cal plants and also the influence of the pollutants on the sanitary living
conditions and health of the population residing in areas around these plants.
In addition, the biological effect of low concentrations of toxic substances
on the organism is being studied in order to establish their highest single
and mean daily maximum permissible concentrations (MPC) in atmospheric air
for isolated and combined action.
The object of the present report is to present data for the validation
of the mean daily MPC of certain gaseous toxic substances found in the atmos-
pheric air around ferrous metallurgical plants.
Among the most frequent toxic substances polluting the atmospheric air
around ferrous metallurgical plants are sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide,
phenol, ammonia, dust, etc.
The studies performed show that these substances are found in atmospheric
air in concentrations exceeding the MPC established for them (Ye. V. Yelfimova,
1960, A. P. Makhinya, 1966; M. M. Sayfutdinov, 1966). As far as the study of
the biological effect of low concentrations of toxic substances on the or-
ganism is concerned, it should be pointed out that considerable research has
been done along these lines.
To date, maximum permissible concentrations have been established for a
whole series of substances including phenol and carbon monoxide in atmospheric
air. The emphasis on phenol and carbon monoxide is because we studied these
substances in combination with other compounds escaping into the atmosphere
from ferrous metallurgical enterprises.
Phenol belongs to a class of organic compounds of the aromatic series.
- 27 -
-------
In its action on the organism, phenol should apparently be regarded as
a poison attacking primarily the central nervous system, and also as posses-
sing an irritant and caustic local effect (N. V. Lazarev).
Phenol escapes into the atmosphere from a whole series of industrial
plants, most important of which is the by-product coke industry, which for
economic reasons is currently associated with metallurgical plants.
The resorptive effect of phenol at the threshold and subthreshold con-
centrations of 5.0-0.1 and 0.01 mg/m3 was studied by B. Mukhitov (1962).
He found that phenol in concentrations of 5.0 and 0.1 mg/m3 causes in animals
a change of the motor chronaxy, porphyrin metabolism, cholinesterase activity,
and pathomorphologic changes in internal organs. The 0.01 mg/m3 concentra-
tion was found to be inactive. It was adopted as the mean daily MFC for
phenol in atmospheric air.
One of the atmospheric pollutants from ferrous metallurgical plants
is carbon monoxide. In its physical properties, carbon monoxide is a gas
without color or taste, with a faint odor resembling that of garlic, a
boiling point of 192°C., and a specific gravity of 0.967 relative to air.
The biological effect of low carbon monoxide concentrations in air during
continuous round-the-clock exposure of experimental animals was studied by T.
M. Shul'ga (1961 and 1965). The studies showed that after 2.5 months of ex-
posure, carbon monoxide in a concentration of 2.65 mg/nr caused a change of
the porphyrin metabolism in the experimental animals, whereas a concentration
of 1.13 mg/m under the same exposure conditions did not cause any changes.
On the basis of these data, the established mean daily MFC for carbon mon-
oxide in atmospheric air at a level of 1.0 mg/m3 is considered experimentally
substantiated.
The biological effect at the level of minimum active and maximum inactive
concentrations of toxic substances was studied at the laboratory of the Atmos-
pheric Protection Department of the Institute in the case of ammonia and sul-
fur dioxide for isolated action, and sulfur dioxide with phenol and also
phenol with carbon monoxide, for combined action. The effect of the toxic
substances on the organism was studied under conditions of round-the-clock
chronic exposure of the experimental animals, using physiological, bio-
chemical, toxicological and histopathological methods of investigation.
Analysis of the statistical significance of the detected changes was per-
formed by using the method of small sampling (Ye. L. Notkin, 1965). Com-
bined data on the effect of the substances studied on the organism are listed
in the table.
A major source of emission of ammonia into the atmosphere are metallur-
gical complexes. When by-product coke and nitrogen fertilizer plants are set
up on the territory of a metallurgical complex, the amount of ammonia in
- 28 -
-------
Combined Data of Experimental Studies of the Biological Action of Toxic Substances Escaping into the Atmosphere
From Ferrous Metallurgical Plants
NJ
vo
0.
1
2
a
4
5
6
7
•8
9
10
•
Type of analysis performed
Weight of animals
Amount of erythrocytes
11 " hemoglobin
" " methemoglobin
" " carboxyhemoglobin
" " fluorescent* leucocytes
Cholinesterase activity
Nucleic acids
Coproporphyrin metabolism
Excretion of vitamins
with urine .C"
B,
B,
Isolated action of the substances
Ammonia, mg/m5
I
20,0
_
—
—
+
—
+
Group
II
2,0
—
_
—
—
—
—
Ill -
0,2
—
—
—
__
—
—
Sulfur dioxide,
G
I
1.5
—
+
—
—
+
+
+
+
+
roup
II
0,5
—
+
• —
t
+.
+
+•
+
+
III
0,1
—
—
—
__
—
—
—
—
Combined action of the substances
- Sulfur dioxide +
phenol, mg/m?
I
1.5+
+0,5
—
—
—
+
—
+
Group
II
0,5 +
+ 0,5
—
_
—
+
—
+
III
0,05+
+0,005
—
—
—
—
...
Carbon monoxide +
phenol, n«/m5
C
I
10.0+
+ 2,5
+
+
+
+
+"*
...
!roup
II
3,0 +
+ 0,1
+
+
+
+
++
.._
*
•
III
0,1+'
+0,005
—
—
—
—
--
—
11
12
13
14
15
16
Ammonia content of urine
Activity of dehydrogenases
Latent reflex time
EBG
Pathomorphologic changes
Oxygen consumption,
+
+
+
—
— -
+
—
_.
—
—
—
_
+
+
+
+
+
+
* Editor's note: For the Russian terms "luminescent" and "luminesce
"fluorescent" and "fluorescence" on the basis of the definitions of these
:+:
:+
—
nee" in
terms.
+
+
this f
+
+
laper,
—
—
we have
—
+
subst:
—
+
Ltuted
-------
atmospheric air increases (M. M. Sayfutdinov, 1966). In the by-product coke
and nitrogen fertilizer plants, ammonia is present in the coke oven gas and
in the tar waters. Atmospheric air is polluted as a result of the escape of
gas in various sections of the plant through leaks in the gas lines and
assemblies, as a result of pouring of liquid ammonia into tanks, and also
during its distribution to customers.
In order to substantiate the mean daily MFC of ammonia in atmospheric
air, aspirant M. M. Sayfutdinov (1966) subjected white rats to a round-the-
clock 84-day exposure. In all, three ammonia concentrations of 20.0-2.0 and
0.2 mg/m^ were studied. In the course of chronic exposure it was found that
in animals subjected to the action of ammonia in the 20 mg/m3 concentration,
a significant acceleration of the latent time of the reflex response had
occurred, recorded by the reflexogenometer instrument proposed by S. I. Gorshkov
(1962). There was also observed a depression of the activity of cholinesterase
and dehydrogenases in the blood of the experimental animals. The amount of
coproporphyrin and ammonia excreted with the urine increased.
An ammonia concentration of 2.0 mg/m^ under the same exposure conditions
caused a depression of the activity of blood serum dehydrogenases. Ammonia in
a concentration of 0.2 mg/m^ had no appreciable effect on the organism of the
experimental animals.
On the basis of these studies, the mean daily MFC of ammonia in atmos-
pheric air was established at the level of 0.2 mg/n»3 (M. M. Sayfutdinov, 1965).
An ever-present pollutant in the atmospheric air around ferrous metallur-
gical enterprises is sulfur dioxide. In its physical properties, S02 is a
colorless gas with a pungent odor; its boiling point is 10°C., and melting
point, 75.5°C. The density in the liquid state is 1.43. The solubility coef-
ficient in water is 43.26 (20°C.).
The effect of low concentrations of sulfur dioxide on the animal organism
was studied by K. A. Bushtuyeva under experimental conditions (1964). In tests
conducted on white rats during a 65-day continuous exposure to sulfur dioxide
in concentrations of 5.0 and 10.0 mg/m^, substantial changes were detected in
the ratio of chronaxias of antagonistic muscles, an increase in the activity of
whole blood cholinesterase, an increase in the amount of coproporphyrin excreted
with the urine, and also histopathologic changes in the organs and tissues of
experimental animals sacrificed after the exposure. Lower sulfur dioxide con-
centrations in isolated action under conditions of prolonged round-the-clock
exposure of the experimental animals apparently have not been studied thus far,
and the mean daily MFC for sulfur dioxide in atmospheric air, approved at, a
level of 0.15 mg/m^, has not been experimentally validated.
In order to validate the mean daily MFC of sulfur dioxide in atmospheric
air, we carried out a three-month round-the-clock exposure of white rats to
- 30 -
-------
three concentrations (1.5, 0.5 and 0.1 mg/m^) in the presence of a control
group of the animals.
The experimental data we obtained showed that chronic round-the-clock
inhalational exposure to sulfur dioxide in concentrations of 1.5, 0.5, and
0.1 mg/m3 causes in experimental animals an increase in the latent time of
the unconditioned reflex reaction, established with the aid of the reflexo-
genometer instrument. In addition, these concentrations cause significant
changes in the functional state of the central nervous system of the animals
according to the indicator of bioelectric reactions in response to rhythmic
photic stimulation of variable frequency and intensity (M. Kh. Khachaturyan
and Ye. V. Yelfimova, 1966). Under the influence of sulfur dioxide in con-
centrations of 1.5 and 0.5 mg/m^, an increase in the amount of erythrocytes
and fluorescent leucocytes, a decrease of nucleic acids, and a change in the
porphyrin metabolism and in the excretion of vitamins with the urine were
established in animals of the first two groups.
Pathomorpho logical changes in rats sacrificed after exposure to sulfur
dioxide in a concentration of 1.5 mg/m^ show focal interstitial pneumonia in
the lungs, catarrhal bronchitis, and dystrophic changes in the liver, heart,
and kidneys. In the central nervous system there were reversible changes in
the large neurons of the stem portion of the myelencephalon and cerebellum.
Sulfur dioxide in a concentration of 0.5 mg/m^ does not produce the above-
indicated changes fully, and they are much less pronounced.
A change in the activity of whole blood cholinesterase was recorded
only in animals of the second chamber, where the sulfur dioxide concentration
was 0.5 mg/m^.
The indicators of weight dynamics and blood hemoglobin content did not
give any significant changes in any of the groups of experimental animals as
compared with the control.
Thus, the mean daily MFC established here for sulfur dioxide in atmos-
pheric air at the level of 0.15 mg/m^ is a concentration acting on the organism
and therefore should be revised in the direction of a decrease.
The biological effect of three different concentrations of phenol in
combination with sulfur dioxide in a three-month round-the-clock exposure of
experimental animals was studied by aspirant A. P. Makhinya (1965).
The substances studied were taken in the following combinations:
- 31 -
-------
Group of Animals
1-st group
2-nd group
3-rd group
4-th group
Concentrations of Sub-
stances tested, mg/m'
Sulfur
Dioxide
1.5
0,5
0,05
Control
i
Phenol
0,5 '
o;os
0,005
It is apparent from the data of the above table that in animals of
groups I and II, a decrease in the coproporphyrin excreted with the urine
took place, and there was also observed a depression of the activity of
blood cholinesterase, an increase in the number of fluorescent leucocytes,
and a shortening of the latent time of the unconditioned reflex. Histo-
pathologic examinations of some of the animals of group I, sacrificed after
the exposure, revealed slight changes in the lungs in the form of inter-
stitial pneumonias, degenerative changes in the kidneys, and a decrease of
the glycogen function of the liver. Primary irritations of large neurons
of the cortex and brain stem were found in the central nervous system. In
animals of group II, the above changes were not constant and were less
obvious. In rats exposed to the lowest concentrations, no histopathologic
changes were observed.
On the whole, the studies established that sulfur dioxide and phenol
in combination act in accordance with the principle of simple summation,
and the permissible concentrations should be 0.05 mg/m^ for sulfur dioxide
and 0.005 mg/m^ for phenol.
Phenol in combination with carbon monoxide was studied in the following
concentrations:
Group of Animals
1-st group
2-nd group
3-rd group
4-th group
Concentrations of Sub-
stances Studied, ng/m3
Carbon
Monoxide
10,0
3,0
1,0
Control
Phenol
2,5
0,01
0,005
The data listed in the above table show that in the experimental animals
of the first and second groups as compared with the controls, statistically
significant changes were observed, manifested in a decrease of the amount of
- 32 -
-------
hemoglobin and methemoglobin, increase of carboxyhemoglobin, depression of
cholinesterase activity, and decrease of the excretion of coproporphyrin
with the urine.
Pathologico-anatomic autopsy of 24 white rats sacrificed immediately
after the completion of exposure failed to reveal any changes in the internal
organs.
Microscopic examinations showed slightly developed degenerative changes
in the liver, kidneys, and heart muscle, and irritation of the mucosa of
the trachea in animals of the first group (CO 10.0 mg/m3 and phenol 2.5 mg/m3),
sacrificed after completion of the exposure.
In animals of the second group (00 3.0 mg/m3 and phenol 0.01 mg/m3),
the above-indicated changes were also observed, but they were much slighter
and were not detected in all cases. In the third group of animals (CO 0.1
mg/m3 and phenol 0.005 mg/m3), no morphologic changes were found.
The results of the studies suggest that the effect of carbon monoxide
in combination with phenol on the organism of experimental animals is mani-
fested according to the principle of simple summation of the toxic substances.
As far as the mean daily maximum permissible concentration for their combined
presence is concerned, it should be at a level of 1.0 mg/m3 for carbon monox-
ide and 0.005 mg/m3 for phenol.
Our further studies of the biological effect of toxic substances escap-
ing into the atmosphere from ferrous metallurgical plants are closely related
to the increase in the volume of production and intensification of metallurgi-
cal processes, leading to an increase in the gas and dust emissions from steel
furnaces using commercial oxygen for the acceleration of the oxidation periods
of melting. An increase in the gas and dust emissions when oxygen is used in
steelmaking is observed in open-hearth, Bessemer, and electric melting furnaces.
According to the data of experimental measurements on electric melting
furnaces of the Novo-Lipetsk Metallurgical plant, the loss of charge amounts
to about 1% of the weight of the materials loaded into the furnace. On the
whole, in five hours of melting, two 100-ton electric furnaces of the plant
discharge about two tons (an average of 0.4 ton/hour) of finely divided dust,
50-80% of which consists of particles less than 5 microns in size. The daily
discharge of this dust without purification will amount to ten tons.
Thus, the increase in finely divided dust is a characteristic feature of
modern converter steelmaking. On this basis, our future aim will be to study
the combined action, on the organism and sanitary standardization, of gaseous
toxic substances with finely dispersed dust discharged into the atmosphere by
ferrous metallurgical enterprises.
- 33 -
-------
LITERATURE CITED
1. 5 y 01 T y e B a K. A., SKcnepHMeHia.ifaHue jiaHHbte o BJIHHHHH
KOHueHTpaunA OKHC.IOB cepu aa opraHHSM JK.HBOTHHX. C6. npe/iejibHo no-
nycTHMue KomieHTpamm aTMOccpepHbix aarpasHeHHfl, 1961, B. 5. 126—142.
2. B y m T y e B a K. A., TOKCHIHOCTB OKHCJIOB cepti B ywioBHHx xpoHHHe-
CKOH HeflocraTOiiiocTH. C6. IlpeaejibHo .nonycTHMbie KOHueHrpamra aTMoccpep-
HMX sarpjiSHeHHH, 1964. B. 8, 119—127.
3. T o p ui K o B C. H.. CKpbiioe BPCMH peipjieKTOpHbix peaKUHfl xax aaeK-
BaTHbifi noKaaare^b 4>>«KunoHa.ibHoro COCTOHHHH uepBiiofl CHCTCMU. ABrope-
4»epar aoicTopCKofl .iHccepTaanu, M., 1963.
4. E ,1 (J> H M o B a E. B.. CaHHTapnaa oxpana a?Moc(j)epHoro soaayxa. C6. 1
BceKy36accKaa KOH^epenmin no .nnKBHjiaunii apeAHux Bu6pocoB. KeMepoao,
1963, 54—59.
5. M a x H H a A. FT. Sarpastiemie atMoc^epHoro Boaayxa BOKpyr npej-
npnsiTiiii MepHoft Mcra.n.ivp'-iiii cepHHcrwM raaoM H (f>p|iojio*i H coBMeciHoe
BJiHHHiie -HX ua oprammi Me/ioseKa. C6. MarepHaJioB X Hayqnofl KOHiJiepeHUHH
HHCTHTVT3 3pHCM3Ha. M.. 1965.
6. MyxHTOB E. M., B-innmie Ma^bix KonueHTpauHfi eHO,na na opra-
HH3M HC-ioseKa H /KiisOTHbix ii HX THnieHHiecKaH oueiiKa. C6. Hpea&nbHO
aonycTHMwe KoimeiiTpamm aiMOCcpepHbix sarpHSHeHHfi, M., 1963, B. 7, 76—98.
7. PsaaHOB B. A.. 0 Kpinepiinx OUBHKH aeficTBHH Ma.iux KOHueHTpaunfi
aTMOcepiibi.x 3arps3iiCHHH na opraHHSM FHrneHa » caHiirapHsi. 1961, Ks 6,
3—8.
8. P a 3 a H o B B. A., ripeae.ibuo flonyctHMbie KouueHTpauHH cepHHCToro
rasa B atMocipepe uace.ieHHUx wecr. C6. Flpefle^bHo nonycTHMtae KOHueuTpa-
miH atMocefiepHbij; 3arpH3HeHHfi, M., 1956 ,B. I, 26—39.
9. CafitpyTAHHOB M. M.. B.innHHe Majibix KOHueHTpaunfi aMMiiana
B arMoc(j)epHOM Bosayxe Ha opraHH3v He^ioBCKa. C6. MarepiiajiOB X Haywoft
KOH'd>epPHuitn HHcriiTyra HM. 3oHCMaHa, M.. 19^5.
10. UJy.ibra T. M.. K o6ocHOBaHi»o npeA&nbHo aonyciHMofi cpefluecy-
TOHHOH KOHuetiTpauiiii OKHCH yrjicpoaa B ajMocfpepnoM soaayxe. FHraeHa H
caiiHTapiin. 1965. Jtt 4. 3—6.
- 34 -
-------
SANITARY ASSESSMENT OF THE STATE OF THE AIR RESERVOIR IN THE ZONE OF AN
EXTRA-HIGH-CAPACITY STATE REGIONAL ELECTRIC POWER PLANT (SREPP)
N. N. Sakhnovskaya
L'vov Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology
From Ministerstvo Zdravookhraneniya Ukr.SSR, L'vovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Epidemiologii i Mikrobiologii. "Faktory vneshney sredy i ikh znachenie
dlya zdorov'ya naseleniya". Respublikanskiy mezhvedomstvennyy sbornik. Vypusk
2. "Zdorov'ya", Kiev, p. 176-181, (1970).
The creation of a material and technical base of Communist society in the
USSR requires a substantial enlargement of the energy resources of the country.
By the end of the Five-Year Plan, the production of electric energy will amount
to 1000 billion kWhr, and it will triple by the end of 1980.
The fulfillment of this major national economic objective has required
the introduction of new high-capacity and extra-high-capacity power plants.
The plan of development of the national economy of the USSR for 1967-1970 sets
forth the necessity of building highly economical power plants of consider-
able capacity which will operate on local fuel.
The above indicates a growing urgency of controlling atmospheric pollu-
tion caused by discharges from extra-high-capacity steam power plants, some-
thing that would be impossible without appropriate sanitary studies.
The electric power plants of earlier capacities were justifiably classi-
fied among enterprises constituting the main sources of atmospheric pollution
with fly ash and sulfur dioxide (R. A. Babayants, 1940; N. F. Dergachev, B. P.
Gurinov, 1953; B. A. Ryazanov, 1954).* Many studies carried out from statis-
tical and clinical view-points (M. S. Gol'dberg, 1957; N. Ya. Yanysheva, 1957;
Ts. P. Kruglikova, V. K. Yefimova, 1958) have noted a deterioration of the
sanitary living conditions and health of the juvenile and adult populations
constantly exposed to atmospheric air polluted by the emissions of power plants.
Foreign researchers found an epidemidlogical relationship between the quantity
of sulfur compounds and dense particles in the ground layer of the atmosphere
and the state of health and mortality of the population (J. R. Goldsmith, 1966;
B. Petr, P. Schmidt, 1966; B. T. Commins, R. E. Waller, 1967; K. Horn, 1967;
P. A. Kenline, C. J. Conlee, 1967).
Experimental studies made in the Soviet Union (K. A. Bushtuyeva, 1963)
gave a toxicological and hygienic assessment of sulfur compounds (including
sulfur dioxide) as atmospheric pollutants.
Thus, the problems of electric power plants have been dealt with in a
*Editor's note: A bibliography does not accompany this paper.
- 35 -
-------
substantial number of scientific publications. However, reports on pollution
of the air reservoir with emissions of modern extra-high-capacity power plants
have appeared only in the last few years (R. S. Gil'denskiol'd, M. V. Styazhkin,
B. V. Rikhter, 1964; Yu. D. Dumanskiy, Ye. I. Shteynberg, Ye. N. Boldyrev et al,
1966; R. S. Gil'denskiol'd, Ya. K. Yushko, G. N. Tyurina, V. P. Dukhanova, 1968).
The need for this type of study served as the basis for the present work.
Investigations of the influence of emissions from an extra-high-capacity steam
power plant on the state of atmospheric air were made in the zone of the
Burshtyn SREPP (BSREPP), which is a part of the "Mir" ("World") international
energy system.
The rated power of the BSREPP is 2.4 million kW; during the period of the
study, eight units of 200 thous. kW each were put into operation. The elec-
tric power plant operates chiefly on coal of the L'vov-Volynskiy basin.
The region where the BSREPP is located is characterized by the absence
of a background of gas or air pollution. The hygienic studies were compared
with the production-operation parameters of the BSREPP.
The program of studies specified the determination of sulfur dioxide in
atmospheric air after M. V. Alekseyeva, carbon monoxide after D. P. Senderikhina,*
nitrogen dioxide after I. S. Shershevskaya and Ye. Vorontsova, hydrogen sul-
fide after N. G. Polezhayev, and dust by the gravimetric method by collecting
the samples on FPP-15 cloth filters. The samples were collected by the itin-
erary method at a distance of 1-15 km from the discharge stacks of the BSREPP.
A total of 446 air samples were collected by the suction method during the
study.
Parallel with the sampling, a study of the meteorological conditions was
made. It was noted that easterly winds predominated in the area of the BSREPP
(75%); westerly winds were recorded in 25%, although it is known that westerly
winds are predominant in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR. The ve-
locity of the air fluctuated considerably, from a complete calm to 7.5 m/sec.
The air temperature was 10.7-11.0°C. during the transition period and 15.4-
30.6°C. during the warm period of the year. The relative humidity was 60-80%
and frequently reached 95%. The atmospheric pressure ranged from 733 to
746 mm Hg.
Results of the study of the pollution of the air reservoir by emissions
from the BSREPP are shown in the table.
From the data presented it is evident that the range of progagation of
individual components of the emissions from the BSREPP extends over 15 km.
This was the maximum distance at which the maximum one-time concentrations
of atmospheric pollutants were still determined.
* Determined in the laboratory of the Ivan Franko oblast sanitary epidemiologies! station
(S. M. Reta, director).
- 36 -
-------
Table.
to
I
Characteristics of Pollution of Atmospheric Air with Emissions of the Burshtyn SREPP.
§'!
& ®
"s s
M u ••
lea
.38.3
o w m
Indus-
trial
site.
1
2
3
5
7
10
12
15
Concentrations, mg/ra^
Sulfur dioxide
|9
ll
0,12
6,02
0,70
1,47
1,22
1.12
0,37
0,83
0,22
|
if
0.05
0.89
0.38
0,29
0.44
0.23
0,11
0.24
0,08
4D
Ig
taa
0
25
10
20
10
9
0
3
0
Hydrogen sulfide
11
0.002
0,002
0.004
0,008
0,008
0.030
0
0.008
0.002
s
ll
0.001
0.001
0.001
0.001
0.005
0.002
0
0,001
0.0004
d)
A 0
S"S
% Id
0
0
0
0
0
6
0
0
0
Nitrogen dioxide
1 §
11
1,93
1.95
__
1.30
0,05
1,30
0,03
0.19
0,03
m
ll
1.29
0,82
.^
0,66
0,04
0.35
0.02
0.08
0,01
4)
A!
S-§
iis
90
50
-
62
0
6
0
0
0
Carbon monoxide
B4J
II
19,4
7,2
14,0
16,0
13,3
13.0
5.5
6,2
4,0
§
§1
11.7
6,4
8.6
11.3
11.1
9.0
5.3
2.8
0,6
. JB
S ID
k §
at a
-------
The intensity of gas and dust pollution of atmospheric air in the 1-2
km range from the electric power plant can be described as the lowest, and
this zone, as the "plume flip-over zone." i.
The zone of most intense and frequent fumigation and gas pollution is
located in the range 3-7 km from the BSREPP. In samples collected at these
distances, the largest number of cases exceeding the maximum permissible con-
centrations in individual ingredients were noted: 9-20% for sulfur dioxide,
80-100% for carbon monoxide, and 80-90% for dust.
The dust content at a distance of 10 km also remains above the permis-
sible level, and the mean maximum concentration exceeds the latter by a
factor of 3. The amount of gaseous impurities present in the air within
this radius is at the level of the maximum permissible concentrations.
Thus, the territory with the highest pollution of the air reservoir
is actually located within a radius equal to 12-28 smokestack heights,
i. e., 10-40 stack heights according to calculated data.
While the present study was being carried out, certain relationships
were maintained between the concentrations of atmospheric pollutants and the
meteorological conditions; for example, the farthest distance of propaga-
tion of the discharge gases and dust was observed at high wind velocities
(up to 7.5 m/sec).
In the zone of heaviest atmospheric pollution, i. e., at a distance of
3-7 km from the discharge stacks, there are several populated areas, in-
cluding the settlement of the BSREPP. In this connection, it was of inter-
est to study the influence on the population of the atmospheric air polluted
by the discharges. To this end, a special questionnaire was submitted to
700 adults living at 7 points at distances of 1-12 km from the source of
pollution. The contingents of those questioned were comparable in sex, age
and length of residence in the given locality.
The population residing in the zone up to 7 km from the BSREPP noted
the presence of extraneous impurities - dust, gases - in the air. Almost
all of the persons questioned in populated areas located in the 1-2 km zone
(96 and 95% respectively) responded affirmatively to this question. As
the distance from the SREPP increases, the number of persons who noted a
periodic appearance of an unpleasant odor and the settling of dust de-
creased, but at distances of 5 and 7 km, more than one-half of those ques-
tioned (66 and 55% reapectively) noted a periodic pollution of atmospheric
air with dust and soot in the presence of winds of appropiate directions. t
An unpleasant odor was noted by the population living in the 7 km rangeJ
and in the closest populated areas (1-2 km), 49-50% of those questioned
characterized this odor as strong, 22-36% as weak, and 14-29% noticed no odor.
- 38 -
-------
In the more distant populated areas, the proportions were different: at a
distance of 3 km, 18% of those questioned noticed a strong odor, 63% did not
notice; at distances of 5 and 7 km, a strong odor was noted by not more than
3 persons; it was considered weak by 41%, and went unnoticed by 53-59% of
those questioned.
Complaints about air pollution were accompanied by claims that the sani-
tary living conditions had deteriorated (inability to ventilate the living
quarters, contamination of laundry during drying outdoors).
Dust in the eyes, a sensation of burning in the eyes, cough, and rasp-
ing in the throat were most frequently mentioned by the population living
in the 1-2 km range (27 and 51% respectively) and to a lesser extent in the
3 km zone (18%). Headache and dizziness were reported by 33-54% of those
questioned in the 1-2 km zone and 10% in the 3 km zone.
The population of the l-2> km zone noted the destructive influence of
the emissions on vegetation, manifested in the dying of the leaves and
flowers of young fruit trees.
The population residing at distances of 10 and 12 km from the SREPP
noted practically no air pollution, unpleasant odor or other inconveniences
attributed by the population of closer populated areas to the emissions of
the power plant.
From all of the above one can conclude that installations and equip-
ment for the purification and dilution of smoke discharges (electrostatic
precipitators, smoke-stacks) do not provide for an adequate purification of
the smoke discharges of the BSREPP to the permissible level. For this
reason, in the zone of the electric power plant in the presence of suitable
meteorological conditions, conditions that are unfavorable from a sanitary
standpoint arise periodically. It is necessary to keep in mind the planned
enlargement of the capacity of the BSREPP and the associated possible dete-
rioration of the state of the air reservoir.
For the purpose of improving the sanitary conditions of the air reservoir
in the zone of the BSREPP and preventing the unfavorable influence of emissions
on the population, the following measures have been recommended:
1) increasing the degree of removal of fly ash from the discharge gases
up to the planned level;
2) replacement of the 180-meter discharge stack by a 250 meter stack;
3) utilization of excess natural gas as an alternate fuel.
- 39 -
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SANITARY EVALUATION OF AN EFFECTIVE METHOD OF CALCULATING THE DISPERSAL
OF EMISSIONS FROM A STATE REGIONAL ELECTRIC POWER PLANT (SREPP)
IN ATMOSPHERIC AIR
R. S. Gil'denskiol'd and B. V. Rikhter
(Prom data of comprehensive studies of 196A-19&5)
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Erismana. "Voprosy gigieny atmosfernogo vozdukha i
planirovki naselennykh raest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 16-23, (1968).
By decision of 25 July 1963, No. 83, entitled "Temporary Method for Calcu-
lating the Atmospheric Dispersal of Discharges (Ash and Sulfur Compounds) From
Smokestacks of Electric Power Plants", the former State Committee for Coordin-
ation of Scientific Research in the USSR charged the personnel responsible for
implementing this project with continuing the work on the improvement and
better validation of this method.
According to the earlier-developed program of comprehensive studies*, the
intensity and propagation of pollutants in atmospheric air were investigated in
different seasons around three thermal electric power plants: in the fall of
1964 in the area of SREPP-1 (State Regional Electric Power Plant), in the winter
of 1965 in the area of SREPP-2 (both stations are located in the central European
part of the USSR), and in the summer of 1965 around SREPP-3 (southwestern USSR).
The location of SREPP-1 differed from the environs of the thermal electric
power plant studied earlier, in 1961-63, chiefly in the predominance of forested
tracts (a different characteristic of the so-called forest floor). In addition
to the main fuel - coals of the Moscow Basin - SREPP-1 partially burns coals of
the Donets field. Studies of atmospheric pollution under winter conditions were
carried out around SREPP-2, investigated in past years. The new element was an
increased power capacity of the plant to 810 MW and the start of operation of a
fifth smokestack 180 m high. The studies of the air reservoir around SREPP-3
were made under markedly different climatic conditions. The location of the
power plant is characterized by a gentle topography and a complete lack of any
gas-polluted background of the atmosphere. After the combustion of the Donets
lean coals, the stack gases were discharged through only one smokestack 180 m
high. The basic industrial-technical indicators of the thermal electric power
plants are listed in Table 1.
SREPP-1. In the study of the propagation of emissions in the ground
layer of the atmosphere, 339 suction air samples were taken for dust (fly
ash) and 2814 samples for sulfur dioxide within a 15 km radius of the smoke
* Cf. Scientific reports of Moscow Scientific Research Institute of Hygiene im. F. F. Erisraan,
"Some Aspects of Sanitary Planning and Protection of Atmospheric Air" 1966, pp. 117 and 127.
- 40_-
-------
source. For the first time, air samples to be analyzed for dust were
collected by means of an automobile aspirator under field conditions,
using house vacuum cleaners of brands "Uralets" and "Raketa", supplied
by an AB-4-T/230-M gasoline-powered integrated unit.
Table 1
Operating Characteristics of Thermal Electric Power Plants in the
Course of the Studies
Item
Designation
Power plant output
Type, number and
steam output of
boiler units
Fuel type
Calorific value QJ|
based on data of
SREPP laboratories
Ash content of fuel
(measurement data)AP
Sulfur content
(calculated) Sp
Efficiency of ash
removers based on
test data, P, ash
Temperature of
flue gases, Tg
Maximum consumption
of fuel, B
Number and height
of smokestacks
Amount of ash dis-
charged into the
atmosphere
(measured) «ash
Amount of sulfur
dioxide discharged
into the atmosphere
(calculated) Mgo2
Measuring
Units
MW
t/hr
K cal
Tcg-
%
%
%
»C
t/hr
i
m -
t/hr
t/hr
Thermal Electric Power Plants
1
'4oO
TP-240-1, 6. 240
Moscow
brown Donets
coal coal
1898- 5570—
—2673 —5842
24,49- 19,78-
—35,85- —23,9
3.0 2,7
67-87
137-175
448,6 32,2
3/120
15,3-29,2
27,0
2
. S10
Shikhau-
6,160.67-
S,B 9,230
P.KŁ3, 1,
6-10
Moscow
brown
coal
2361-
-24'.8
27,44-
-29,38
3,0
90-92
120-167
954,0
4/120,
1/180
11,73-
-19,34
57,3
3
200
!.P— 100,
1, 640
Donets
coal
5944-
-6443
16.30-
-26,0
2,7
90-92
64-78
78,7
1-180
1,40-
-1,85
4,25
- 41 -
-------
The data of the study were compared with the results of a theoretical
determination of the distribution of concentrations according to zones,
based on the maximum values given in Table 1. The graphs (Figs. 1 and 2)
show the relationship between the calculated concentrations of sulfur dioxide
and dust according to zones (up to 10 km inclusive) and the actual extreme,
statistically significant maximum single, and averaged maxima (frequently
occurring maximum concentrations). The determination of significant zonal
maximum single concentrations (nondeviating)* was made by using a series of
the highest maximum concentrations consisting of a series of air samples
collected under the plume daily in each zone. The composition of the series
included maximum single concentrations above the average daily series of
measurements (based on the largest values), only those series being considered
in which the maximum was higher than or at the level of the highest single
maximum permissible value. Within a radius up to 10 km from the source of
emission, the number of strictly maximum single concentrations of sulfur dioxide
was 359, of which 148 were processed, 136 and 48 respectively being analyzed
for fly ash. In view of the low recurrence of studies and the probability that
the waste piles would affect the results for sulfur content in the air samples
collected in the vicinity of coal mines, the 12 and 15 km zones were excluded
from the comparison.
nig/m5
Concentrations:
Maximum single sta-
tistically significant
Calcuiat
"temporary
Extreme
Maximum1 concentration
based-on Andreyev's
formula-with a reduc-
ing factor of 3.
• » "km
Fig. 1. Distribution of maximum concentrations of sulfur
dioxide in atmospheric air in the area of SREPP-1 (actual
and calculated values in ng/m').
The patterns detected earlier in the dynamics of pollution of the atmos-
phere with sulfur dioxide in the area of SREPP-1 (Fig. 1) are generally con-
firmed. Thus, the zone where the maximum statistically significant concentra-
tions were observed (smoke-pollution zone) covers approximately the same range
from 10 to 40 smokestack heights. The distribution of actual maximum single
* Ye. L. Notkin, Statistics in Sanitary Studies, 19&5, p. 151.
- 42 -
-------
concentrations over the zones agrees quite well with the calculated values
obtained by using the "temporary method", particularly in the smoke-polluted
zone. The maximum value calculated by the "temporary method", 2.03 mg/m^,
is considerably below the concentration of 4.30 mg/m3 calculated from
P. I. Andreyev's formula using a reducing factor of 3.0 (at VQ = 3.0 m/sec).
Some extreme concentrations (the largest being 3.26 mg/m3) are substantially
above the value calculated by the "temporary method", but they do not reach
the level of the value calculated by Andreyev's formula. The decrease of
actual maximum values in the atmosphere at remote distances from the point
of discharge takes place less rapidly than indicated by the calculations.
The frequently occurring maximum values (averaged maxima) in all the zones
do not exceed the level of the calculated gas pollution of the ground layer
of the atmosphere, calculated for the worst conditions of operation of SKEPP-1.
Concentrations:
. Maximum single
statistically
significant -
— — Averaged maximum
Calculated by
"temporary method"
Extreme
Maximum obtained
from Andreyev's
formula
40km
Pig. 2. Distribution of maximum concentrations of
dust (fly ash) in atmospheric air in the «Łea of
SREPP-1 (actual and calculated, ng/n?/>
- 43 -
-------
Comparison of calculated and measured data on the ash content of
atmospheric air (Fig. 2) shows that the maximum theoretical value obtained
by the "temporary method" is 4.40 mg/m3 higher than the largest significant
single concentration, equal to 3.69 mg/rn3, while the value calculated from
Andreyev's formula is unaccountably high - 13.3 mg/m3.
The discrepancy in the relationship of the calculated and actual data
in studies of 1961-63 and 1964 is explained by the fact that the SEEPP is
surrounded by extensive forested areas. A deciduous forest, which constitutes
a good natural filter, promotes a decrease in the dust content of the atmos-
phere. This is indirectly supported by data on the number of air samples
whose dust concentrations are below the sensitivity of the method of determin-
ation. Of the total number of such samples, 70% correspond to collection
points located in the fores't.
SREPP-2. As follows from the data of Table 1, the fuel consumption and
emission of sulfur dioxide increased over previous years (before the expan-
sion, the maximum values were respectively 730 and 49 t/hr). The amount of
ash discharged decreased in maximum values from 22.8 t/hr in 1962 to 19.3 t/hr
as a result of a certain increase in the efficiency of the electrostatic pre-
cipitators (before the expansion, the average operating efficiency was 87%).
Of these amounts, 3.6 t/hr of ash and 8.9 t/hr of sulfur dioxide were dis-
charged through the new stack with H = 180 m.
The total number of air samples within a 20 km radius of SREPP-2 was
396 for dust and 2177 for sulfur dioxide. The gas samples were collected in
Y-shaped absorbers placed in specially designed water heaters that prevented
the absorbing solution from freezing during field studies at subzero temper-
atures .
The maximum single concentrations of dust in the smoke-polluted zone
(2-5 km) were 1.26-2.17 mg/m3. The largest excess over the MPC of sulfur
dioxide, 2.6-fold, was observed in the 3 km zone. The smoke-polluted zone
is located in the range of 1-7 km (approximately 6-40 H = 180 m). The level
of maximum pollution of atmospheric air with sulfur dioxide increased as com-
pared with the winter studies (1962 - 0.76 mg/m3; 1963 - 1.02 mg/m3). On
the whole, the pattern of decrease in the intensity of atmospheric pollution
in the area of a large-output, high, "hot" discharge source during the winter
period was confirmed, and for this reason the comparison of the maximum cal-
culated concentrations with these values is not significant. A number of
steps have been planned* to reduce the generally high level of atmospheric
pollution in the area of SBEPP-2.
SKEPP-3. The total number of air samples collected at distances up to
10 km from the emission source was 456 for dust and 2725 for sulfur dioxide.
Analysis of the dust content of atmospheric air showed that the high dust
* See this collection, p. 52.
- 44 -
-------
content (maximum concentration 3.48 mg/m3) is due to the presence in the
air of substantial amounts of hovering vegetal and soil dust, since the
period of field investigations coincided with the harvesting being done in
this area under hot and dry weather conditions. For the maximum value cal-
culated by the "temporary method", equal to 0.23 mg/m3, the largest actual
(dual) concentration was found to be 1.51 mg/ra3, whereas the background
values not under the plume reached 1.2-2.7 mg/m3. For this reason, the
propagation of discharges from SREPP-3 and comparison of the measured and
calculated data were analyzed on the basis of information on the zonal gas
pollution of the atmosphere. Fig. 3 is a graph of the interdependence of
the maximum single actual and calculated concentrations, the above-described
methodical approaches being used for comparing the series of maximum concen-
trations. The treatment did not include series of one-day measurements (in
terms of the largest values), in which the maximum sulfur dioxide concentra-
tions were found to be 10 times lower than the MFC level. Of 486 strictly
maximum single concentrations, 146 were taken for the validation of the highest
zonal values. The zone where the largest concentrations were observed was
found to lie between 1 and 5 km from the discharge source, i.e., amounted to
approximately 6-30 smokestack heights H = 180 m. The largest maximum concen-
tration, 0.364 mg/m3, was observed at a distance of 4 km (about 20 H is the
theoretical X maximum). It exceeded the maximum calculated value of 0.270
mg/m3 by approximately 30%. This excess may be partly, explained by the fact
that the point of collection of the air samples was located behind a water
reservoir (it is known that a plume tends to descend over a water surface)
and by the fact that this territory was located 40-50 m above (steep shore)
the industrial area. The extreme concentrations (10 samples) are higher than
the significant maximum single values and at distances of 2-3-4 km even cor-
respond to the MFC level. In the zone where the largest concentrations were
observed, most of the frequently occurring maximum single concentrations
(averaged maximum values) are approximately 0.1 mg/m3, i.e., substantially
below the zonal concentrations calculated from the "temporary method". It
should be noted that the lower temperature of the flue gases discharged after
passing through wet rod-type VTI ash collectors under the climatic conditions
of the area around SREPP-3 caused the maximum calculated value obtained by
the "temporary method" to be higher than that obtained from Andreyev's formula
0.207 mg/m3 at VQ = 4.5 m/sec.
Thus, the studies of 1964-65 support the conclusion that the use of the
"temporary method" for the prognostic determination of the probable maximum
gas and dust content of atmospheric air of populated areas due to discharges
from newly planned or modernized thermal electric power plants is fully
justified from a sanitary standpoint.
However, considering the detected tendency of sporadic actual (extreme)
values to exceed the maximum calculated values and also the slight excess of
the largest significant values over the calculated ones, on the initiative of
the F. F. Erisman Institute, a step permitting one to increase the final
- 45 -
-------
calculated concentration by 25% while allowing for the worst meteorological
conditions has been introduced into the formulation of the procedure for
calculating the dispersal.
'" Concentrations:
0,5
M
V
tf*
Maximum single sta-
tistically significant
Averaged maximum
Calculated by the
"temporary method"
• Extreme
o Maximum concentration
based on Andreyev's •
formula with a reducing
factor of 3.
MFC
\
V
6 1 8 9 tfl km
Fig. 3. Distribution of maximum concentrations of
sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere in the area of
SREPP-3 (actual and calculated values in ng/m3).
The earlier-determined boundaries of the zone of observation of maximum
impurity concentrations in the ground layer of the atmosphere — the smoke
pollution zone in the range of 10-40 smokestack heights — have also been
confirmed.
- 46 --
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STUDY OF THE HEALTH OF THE JUVENILE POPULATION RESIDING IN AREAS
WITH VARIOUS DEGREES OF POLLUTION OF THE ATMOSPHERE
BY EMISSIONS FROM STATE REGIONAL ELECTRIC POWER PLANTS (SREPP)
R. S. Gil'denskiol'd, Ya. K. Yushko, G. N. Tyurina, and V. P. Dukhanova
From Mlnisterstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Erismana. "Voprosy gigieny atmosfernogo vozdukha i
planirovki naselennykh mest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 75-80, (1968).
Comprehensive zonal studies of pollution of the ground layer of atmos-
pheric air with sulfur dioxide and dust (fly ash) conducted for many years
in a radius up to 20 km from the smokestacks of SREPP with simultaneous
recording of the physical parameters of the state of the atmosphere and pro-
duction and operational indicators of electric power plants have culminated
in the development of a method, now in use, for calculating the dispersal
of discharges from SREPP and thermal electric power plants in atmospheric
air, based on the modern theory of turbulent diffusion.*
The studies were performed in different seasons of the year around an
electric power plant operating on low-calorie, high-ash and high-sulfur fuel
with smokestack heights initially at 120 m and lately 120 and 180 m.
The total number of air samples to be analyzed for sulfur dioxide,
collected by the suction method under the smoke plume of the SREPP from 1961
through 1965, was 11831, and those to be analyzed for dust, 2066. The maximum
sulfur dioxide concentrations in the most heavily smoke-polluted zone (10-40
geometric stack heights) were 3.30-4.03 mg/m^ based on extreme concentrations
and 2.5-4.62 mg/m^ based on dust; this was 5-9 times greater than the MFC.
The zone closest to the SREPP, approximately 1 km, was characterized by a
considerably lighter pollution of atmospheric air; based on averaged maxima
(frequently occurring highest single concentrations), the gas content was
found to be 1.0-1.6 mg/m^, and the dust content, 1.4-1.5 mg/m^. A distance
of 15 km for both dust and sulfur dioxide was the maximum distance where the
highest single concentrations at the MFC level were still found in atmospheric
air.
The regularity detected in the dynamics of propagation and diffusion of
noxious substances through atmospheric air confirms the argument that for a
high point-emission, the bulk of the toxic substance continuously diluted in
the atmosphere is transported by the air masses to a certain distance (the
so-called throwover zone) determined by the physical state of die atmosphere,
* The setup, methods, and results of the studies were published in Transactions of the A. I. Voeykov
Main Geophysical Observatory, nos. 138, 158, and 172 for 1963-1965, and Scientific Reports of the F. F. Ensraan
Institute "Aspects of Sanitary Planning and Protection of Atmospheric Air," 1966.
- 47 -
-------
and then, on settling, comes in contact with the ground (smoke pollution
zone). Farther on, as a result of the dispersal, the observed ground con-
centrations gradually decrease.
In order to study the influence of the emissions of the SREPP on the
health of the population residing in areas with different degrees of atmos-
pheric pollution, a comprehensive medical survey of the physical development
and health of the most vulnerable juvenile population — 9-10-year-old
schoolchildren — was carried out in three areas (Fig. 1):
Jk SREPP
***-flesidential area
^_ >tfc~~-.zone of disorganized
Prevailing winds discharge
C
Throwover zone Smoke .pollution zone Control area
Fig. 1. Diagram of vertical cross section of smoke plume and
location of the main and control areas relative to the SREPP.
Main area A, is the smoke-pollution zone, where the largest concen-
trations of sulfur dioxide and dust were observed in atmospheric air. The
survey was made on school children living in a residential area at a dis-
tance of 3.5-4.0 km from the source of atmospheric pollution. The relative
location of the town and SREPP is very unfavorable from the standpoint of
the direction of the prevailing winds. During the course of the year, more
than 40% of the winds are directed from the SREPP toward the town, this being
responsible for the protracted action of substantial pollutant concentrations
on the population. Interrogation of the population of the area showed that
over 95% of those questioned complained of the unpleasant odor and dustiness
of the air when the wind was blowing in this direction. Coughing, difficult
breathing, dust in the eyes, adverse effect on the sanitary living conditions
and a deleterious influence on green plantings were also noted.
Main region B is the zone of throwover of the smoke cloud. Strictly
speaking, there is no such zone when the SREPP operates on solid fuel, since
in the immediate vicinity of the smokestacks there are additional, continuously
acting, less intense, disorganized sources of atmospheric pollution with dust
and sulfur dioxide. They include an open coal dump, transport (shunting loco-
motives) , and the settling of coarse zonal particles from the smoke cloud under
the influence of gravity forces, etc. However, considering that the existing
town of the power workers is located on the windward side relative to the
SREPP and that the influence of disorganized discharges in the course of the
year is minimal, the survey was made on students of the school serving the
residential area of the town, located at a distance of 800-1200 m from the
source of the principal organized emission.
- 48 -
-------
Control area C is the zone of relatively pure atmospheric air. School-
children living in a residential area at a distance of 20 km from the SKEPP
were studied. According to our results, the area may be evaluated as a zone
of insignificant atmospheric pollution (the extreme highest single concen-
trations did not exceed 0.3 mg/m3).
Aside from the main problem, the data of the study could serve as an
indirect objective proof of a constant presence of a regular pattern,
detected as a result of the field investigations, in the behavior of the
smoke plume in the area of the large-output organized industrial source of
atmospheric pollution.
The medical survey included anthropological, clinical, physiological,
x-ray, biochemical, and other methods of investigation.
The total number of children studied was 677, of whom 227 lived in
neighborhood A, 235 in area B, and 215 in area C. These groups were similar
in age-sex composition. Their social position, material situation and living
conditions were basically the same.
Analysis of the indicators of physical development of the children's
groups studied revealed a generally satisfactory correspondence to the basic
physiological norms in all three areas, but the indicators of average annual
weight gain, circumference of the chest, and growth (in both girls and boys)
were somewhat lower in those residing in area A as compared with the corres-
ponding values in areas B and C, which were practically equal.
A more pronounced dependence was detected between the number of complaints
voiced during the survey and the degree of pollution of atmospheric air
(Table 1).
Table 1
Complaints Voiced by Schoolchildren in Three Neighborhoods, %
- ... t
Complaints
Headache
Cough, head cold
Rapid fatigability
Other
No complaints
Total
Main Areas
A
30.5
15,8
12,3
5,3
36.1
100.0
B
20,4
8,2
10,2
4,2
57,0
100,0
Control
C
15,3
5,4
6.3
3.1
69,9
100,0
- 49 -
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As follows from Table 1, the largest number of complaints were voiced
by children residing in area A - a total of 63.9%; they were considerably
fewer in area B - 43.0%, and still fewer in area C - 30.1%. The school-
children living in the zone of lasting, heavy smoke pollution of the atmos-
phere voiced 2-2.5 times as many complaints as those in the group of area C.
The difference established in terms of these indicators between the groups
of areas B and C were slight. The percentagewise expression of the number
of children who did not voice any complaints indicates an approximately
double magnitude of the indicators for area C as compared with area A.
Table 2
Disorders of the Upper Respiratory Tract of Schoolchildren in the Three
Neighborhoods (For 100 Subjects)
Pathologic Processes
Disorders of upper respiratory
tract
Including:
Chronic Tonsillitis
Hypertrophic rhinitis and
rhinopharyngitis
Atrophic rhinopharyngitis
Adenoids
Chronic laryngitis
Main Areas
A
39,7
20,3
6.6
4,0
2,6
6,2
B
26,3
14,5
3,8
2,5f
1,7
3,8.
Control
C
22,8
13,5
2,8
2,3
M
2.8
An otolaryngological survey revealed an increase in the incidence of
disorders of the upper respiratory tract in schoolchildren of the two main
areas as compared with the control (Table 2); in the smoke pollution zone A,
certain nosological forms indicated that the number of illnesses was twice
as high as in area C.
The predisposition to the development of chronic inflammatory disorders
of the upper respiratory tract in children residing in the gas-polluted area
may be regarded as one of the manifestations of a prolonged action of SEEPP
emissions (sulfur dioxide and ash) on the children's orgamism. However, no
substantial changes in the lung tissue was detected by x-rays.
Data from the functional study of the cardiovascular system confirm
the detected regularity - a decrease in the functional capacity of the heart
was observed in children of area A. In this group, a decreased content of
blood hemoglobin was observed in a large number of students (25.1%), as
against 22.5% in area B, and only 10% in area C.
Data of a thorough neurological survey conducted on a smaller contingent
of the same groups of students in the lower grades (210 people) show the
- 50 -
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prevalence of functional disorders of the central nervous system precisely
in children of area A. Thus, an increased fatigability, weakening of
muscular strength, decline of memory, and slowing down of perception and
certain other indicators in the smoke pollution zone were observed twice or
more times as frequently as in the control area. As a rule, these indica-
tors in children residing in the throwover zone of the plume, B, were close
in frequency to the level determined in area C.
As a result of biochemical studies, the presence of sulfur dioxide was
detected in the blood of children of area A, ranging from traces to 0.02 mg%
in 91% of the subjects, with the highest concentrations, 0.01 and 0.02 mg%,
found in the blood of seven children. In area B, the presence of sulfur
dioxide in the blood was found in 18% of the schoolchildren in the group
surveyed, and the maximum concentration in one case reached 0.01 mg%. In
schoolchildren of area C, only traces of sulfur dioxide in the blood were
observed in 18% of the cases.
The presence of sulfur dioxide in the blood objectively indicates a
prolonged presence of high concentrations of this substance in the atmospheric
air of residential area A, since no sulfur dioxide should be found in the
blood of persons living in an area that is clean from the sanitary-hygienic
point of view.
An indicator of the adverse effect of sulfur dioxide on the organism
and its defensive function was a decrease in the content of ascorbic acid
in the blood and a decrease in the amount of vitamin C excreted with the
urine, observed in children of area A, as compared with higher and approxi-
mately equal values determined in groups residing in areas B and C.
Thus, the findings of the above medical survey of schoolchildren show
beyond any doubt that in the zone of frequent smoke pollution, where the
highest single concentrations of sulfur dioxide and fly ash exceeded the
MFC severalfold, conditions develop which are not permissible from a sani-
tary standpoint, and are responsible for a debilitation of the developing
child's organism and lead to chronic disorders.
A clinical confirmation of the presence of the throwover zone of the
plume, i.e., a region with a slight atmospheric pollution, makes it possible
to recommend that planned layouts of the residential settlement near an iso-
lated SBEPP specify a gap of no less than 1000 m between the latter and the
former.
In order to minimize the adverse effect of SREPP emissions on the health
and living conditions of the population, on the recommendation of the
F. F. Erisman Institute, the project of modernization of the electric power
plant has been made to include the following measures: "
- 51 -
-------
1. Conversion of the SREPP to enriched coal. Instead of the brown
coal being used at the present time with a sulfur content up to S? = 3%
and ash content A? up to 30%, a coal with Sp = 1.6% and A? = 21.5% will
be supplied.
2. Increase of the degree of removal of fly ash from stack gases in
the existing part of the SREPP to 94.4% (at the time of the study, 87-90%)
and in the part undergoing expansion, up to 98%.
3. Replacement of four existing smokestacks 120 m high with an output
of 610 MW by a single stack 250 m high. After the SREPP is modernized,
there will be two operating stacks - 250 m and 180 m in the part being
expanded (400 MW).
4. Use of excess natural gas in combustion during the summer (it has
been taking place periodically since 1963).
Calculation by the "Temporary Method for Calculating the Atmospheric
Dispersal of Emissions (Ash and Sulfur Compounds) from the Smokestacks of
Electric Power Plants" shows that the implementation of these measures in
conjunction with a stable and efficient operation of the purification equip-
ment will lower the sulfur content in the ground layer of the smoke pollution
zone to 0.47 mg/m^, and the dust content to 0.15 mg/m^, i.e., the pollution
level of atmospheric air will be below the established highest single maximum
permissible concentrations in the residential area for these substances,
equal to 0.5 mg/m .
- 52 -
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ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION CAUSED BY REFUSE DUMPS
V. M. Sukharevskiy, A. P. Stel'makh, and N. P. Sirily
From Materialy Pervoy Ukrainskoy konferentsiii "Rasteniya i promyahlennaya sreda"
Akademiya Nauk Ukrainskoy SSR. Tsentral'nyy respublikanskiy botanicheskiy sad.
Izdatel'stvo "Naukova dumka". Kiev p. 38 - 45 (1968).
Refuse dumps are engineering structures resulting from the stockpiling of
rock produced by the mining of coal and its preparation. Most of them are
active. As a result, the dumps are a source of atmospheric pollutants that
are spread by air currents over considerable distances. They include gases
evolved by the conbustion of the refuse dumps, and suspended coal and rock
dust formed by the dumping of the rock and its weathering. The exhaled sub-
stances have a destructive effect on the fauna and flora and also affect the
health of the people residing near the dumps.
Thus, the complete elimination or reduction of the emission of these nox-
ious substances is a problem of the first magnitude whose practical solution
requires a determination of the causes of their formation.
From the standpoint of their shape, refuse dumps are divided into four
types: 1) refuse heaps, 2) crested, 3) flat, and 4) combined dumps.
The predominant form are refuse heaps, which comprise 80.9?6 of the total
amount of dumps. Each year, the volume and height of the dumps increase. At
the present time, 31.7% of the dumps are 50 m high or higher. It is expected
that as coal mining increases, so will the flow of the dump mass.
A dump consists of the rock mass, which for each pit, contains a definite
amount of limestone, sandstone, clay shales or sandy shales, and combustible
materials (coal, wood, etc.).
i
Upon coming in contact with air, the rock changes its physicomechanical
properties under the influence of the atmospheric conditions: it becomes
fragile and breaks up. The finest particles of the dump mass are detached
from the dump by the air currents and carried away, polluting the air of
neighboring areas. In addition, the atmospheric air becomes heavily charged
with dust as a result of unloading of the rock on heaps and crested dumps.
We conducted studies to determine the degree of dust pollution of air
around refuse dumps around the "October" pit of the Kuybyshevugol' trust and
the "East" pit of the Proletarskugol1 trust. The selection of the dumps took
into consideration their type, accessibility from all sides, and absence of
the influence of other sources on the atmospheric air around them. At the
- 53 -
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"October" pit, the refuse dumps consisted of two heaps (maximum height 50 m)
and a flat dump adjacent to them; at the "East" pit, of a flat dump (height
30 m) and crested dumps.
Measurement data on the dust pollution of air in the Don Basin (Tables
1, 2, and 3) show that: 1) the heaviest dust pollution of air around refuse
dumps is observed during the summer months; 2) the dust pollution of air pro-
duced only by the weathering of refuse dumps is relatively moderate; 3) com-
parison of the weighted mean dust content of air near heaps and crested
dumps along the outline of the sanitary protective zone shows that it is
approximately five times greater near the crested dumps than near the heaps;
4) the dust content of air at a distance of 2000 m from the dumps in many
cases exceeds the sanitary permissible norms.
Table 1.
Concentration of Dust in wg/m in Atmospheric
Air as a Function of the Distance from Dumps
of the "Bast" Pit.
Dis-
tance
from
m
0
100
200
300
500
1000
1500
2000
Dust 'Content of Air, n
5.V : 21.VI :
67. : 67. :
1,0 3,3
5,0 6,3
8,6
4,0 2,2
9,6
4,0 2,2
5,0 2,3
— —
6,vu>26 in
67. : 67
»
- 2,8
3,6 6,7
-
3,3
- 4,5
2,6 1,6
- 2,2
"• —
g/m5
14 22.IX; 20.x. : 22
: 67. : 67. :
• * •
0,44
1,08 0,6
0,86
0,44
4,2 1,8
-
2,4
6,3 1,3 •
.XI. 67
_
0,6
-
-
-
-
-
—
In addition to exhaling dust, refuse dumps also emit noxious gases whose
amount depends on the combustion rate of the refuse dumps. Observations show
that refuse heaps and crested dumps burn most rapidly (Table 3) and hence
emit the largest amount of fire gases.
The increased resistance of heaps and crested dumps to combustion is ex-
plained as follows. When the rock is stockpiled in heaps and crested dumps,
it becomes distributed (segregated) according to the particle size and density:
the finest fractions deposit at the top, coarser ones lower, and the coarsest
ones, in the lowest part of the dumps. Combustible materials are also arranged
unevenly over the slope: their maximum quantity is located at the top, and a
minimum quantity at the base of the dump.
- 54_-
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Table 2.
Concentration of Dust in rag/m3 in Atmospheric Air as a Function
oT Distance from Dumps of "October" Pit.
Distance
from
Dump, m
0
100
200
300
500
1000
1500-
2000
! Dust
• ,
:I6.vi .67. :
49,4
16,1
8,6
2,1
1,01
.3,2
7,5
5,*
Bontent of Air
29. VI.67. :
—
-
-
-
0,3
0,*
-
0,5
-W.n3
20.IX.67:
..
—
-
0,24
-
-
-
0,2*
20.X.67
0,6
1.2
2,0
3,0
2,0
" i»o
-
0,6
Table 3.
< type of Dump I Total ! Of these, Undergoing Combustion
: : : Quantity : '%
I. .Refuse Heaps
2. Crested Dumps
3. Flat Lumps
1930
86
v 371
1136
64
60
58,9
74,4
17,2
Because of this distribution of the rock, the density of a dump changes
from the top to the base: the top of the dump, composed of fine fractions,
is the densest, whereas the lowest part (approximately 1/3 of the dump) is
readily penetrated by air. After passing through this zone, the air reaches
a denser zone with a higher content of combustible materials,'and the latter
are oxidized, evolving heat. The heated air is driven upward, producing a
draft, i. e., the influx of fresh amounts of atmospheric oxygen causes heat-
ing of the upper layers of the rocks, preparing them for participation in
spontaneous combustion. The combustible materials ignite spontaneously when
the amount of heat generated by the low-temperature oxidation of the rocks
exceeds the amount of heat given up to the surroundings. 'This process takes
place only at points where conditions favoring it prevail, and it is there-
fore focal in character. The combustion of rocks subsequently spreads over
the surface of the dumps; at points where it arises, it is sustained by the
influx of fresh dump mass.
The following gases are evolved during the combustion: C02, CO, H2, H20,
CH^, S02» H2S, which rise above the dump by convective currents and are spread
by currents of atmospheric air over the grounds adjacent to the dump.
The distance to which the gases are carried and their concentration depend
- 55 -
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on the combustion rate of the dumps, meteorological conditions, and roughness
of the underlying surface.
The combustion rate of the dumps affects the temperature of the fire
gases evolved, the heating of the atmosphere surrounding the dump, and hence
the height of the vertical ascent of the gases. However,'this height of
ascent is also influenced by the meteorological conditions, i. e., the air
temperature and wind velocity. A high air temperature and minimum wind
velocity promote an increase in the height of ascent of the gases; a low
air temperature and maximum wind velocity decrease it.
On rising, the fire gases mix with air, causing an equalization of their
temperatures. Moving along with the air, the fire gases are subjected to me-
chanical and thermal turbulence and descend to the earth's surface. A± the
point of contact of these air masses with the earth's surface, there is ob-
served a maximum concentration of gases which gradually decreases with in-
creasing distance from this point.
We conducted studies of the degree of gas pollution of the atmosphere
over the territory adjoining the refuse dumps of the "October" pit of the
Kuybyshevugol' trust and "East" pit of the Proletarskugol' trust.
The samples were selected monthly on the leeward'side 6f the dumps at
the base and at distances of 100, 200, 300, 500, 1000, 1500, and 2000 m from
them. The days of the selection were chosen so that it would be possible to
determine the distribution of the fire gases in all the directions relative
to the dumps.
In the course of these studies, only SO^ was detected at all the obser-
vation points (Table 4); the gases H2S, CO, and C02 were detected only at
certain points. These data show that: 1) the S02 concentration may vary
over a wide range at each observation point; 2) there is no linear relation-
ship between the distribution of concentration of the gases and the distance
from the dumps to the point of sample collection; 3) the maximum concentra-
tions of sulfur dioxide are found at a distance of 100-300 m from the dumps,
and decrease beyond that; 4) at a distance of 2000 m from the dump, the high-
est single concentration of sulfur dioxide is 6-7 times greater than the max-
imum permissible concentrations in the atmospheric air of populated areas.
Table 4.
Concentration of SOg in Atmospheric Air in mg/m as a Function of Distance from Bump..
Pit
"October"
"East".
iNum- .
• • ber
: of
: yses
Distance of Point of Sample Collection from Dump, m
100 :
Max. : Av. . :
II 11,2 2,82
8 4,6 2,81
500
Max. :
2,8
3,7
Av.
1,27
1.73.
': 1000
: Max. :
3",7
11,3
;•'
Av. :
1,16
3,91
2000
Max. :
3,0
3,7
Av.
0,77
1,00
- 56--
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Since refuse dumps have thus far been unavoidable, steps should be taken
toward controlling the emission of noxious substances associated with their
use. In our view, such measures should consist in the following: 1) new
dumps should be formed at sufficient distances from populated areas; 2) the
rocks should be stockpiled in dumps of flat shape; when the rock is stockpiled
in dumps, steps should be taken to prevent spontaneous combustion of the rocks
and dust formations; 4) quenching of the combustion of rocks should be carried
out on actively burning dumps; 5) inactive dumps should be planted with green-
ery.
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SANITARY CHARACTERISTICS OF AMMONIA AND VALIDATION
OF ITS MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE CONCENTRATION IN ATMOSPHERIC AIR
M. M. Sayfutdinov
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Erismana. "Voprosy gigleny atmosfernogo vozdukha i
planirovki naselennykh mest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 62-65, (1968).
The vigorous growth of the chemical industry in the Soviet Union has led
to the development of many areas of production. There has been a sharp
increase in the production of ammonia, which has broad applications and is
one of the key products in modern chemical industry. The number of sources
discharging ammonia into the atmosphere is proportionately increasing.
Studies of the quantitative content of ammonia in atmospheric air have
been very limited. Depending on the pollution source, the ammonia concentra-
tion in atmospheric air ranges from 0.015 to 57.0 mg/m^, and in air where
there are no special pollution sources, from 0.003 to 0.05 lag/iP (V. A. Ryazanov,
1961; Z. D. Markova, 1921; V. A. Kononova, 1963).
Thus far, the maximum permissible concentration of ammonia in atmospheric
air has not been established. We therefore undertook the task of studying
the actual content of ammonia in atmospheric air around a ferrous metallurgical
plant and establishing its maximum permissible concentration in atmospheric
air through experimental investigations of the influence of low concentrations
on man and animals.
In determining the ammonia concentration in air, we used colorimetric
methods: with Nessler's reagent (S. M. Bykhovskaya et al. , 1960), and the
indophenol reaction (M. P. Poletayev and N. A. Andreyeva, 1959).
The pollution of atmospheric air with ammonia was studied during 1963-
1965 around the Novolipetsk metallurgical plant, where the sources of emission
of ammonia are the by-product coke and nitrogen fertilizer sections.
The studies were conducted at distances from 500 to 7000 meters.
The results are shown in the table.
The highest ammonia concentrations are observed at distances of 500 and
1000 m.
The high gas concentrations in 1965 as compared with previous years are
due to the start of nitrogen fertilizer production.
- 58 -
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The effect of low concentrations of ammonia on the physiological reac-
tions of man were studied by determining the threshold of its action on the
sense of smell, light sensitivity (by the method of adaptometry) and electric
activity of the brain (by recording the total electric activity of the brain).
Table
Concentration of Ammonia in Atmospheric Air Around Novolipetsk Metal-
lurgical Plant (Maxima and Averages of Maximum Single Values in mg
Distance in
500
1000
3000
5000
7000
10000
Ammonia, mg/in3
1963
Maximum
1,4
3,5
2,25
0.2
0,2
Average'
'0,31
0,5
0,45
0.1G
0,00
' 19Gt
Maximum
3,6
0.39
1,3
0.5
0.3
Average
0.02
0.185
0,20
0,10
0,0-1
!%.->
Maximum
4, as
1,73 '
• 0,39
0,25
0,173
0,130
Average
2.1!)
0.91
0,248
0.223
0.163
0,121
The threshold of olfactory perception was determined on 22 persons.
A total of 432 tests were performed. In the most sensitive persons, the
threshold of olfactory perception was found to be 0.055-0.50 mg/m3, and the
maximum imperceptible concentration, 0.45-0.40 mg/m3.
The adaptometric studies were conducted by using a model ADM adaptometer.
Fifty-three observations on three persons were made. It was found that an
ammonia concentration of 0.45 mg/m^ caused a decrease in the light sensitivity
of the eye in two subjects, while a concentration of 0.32 mg/m3 was found to
be inactive for them.
In the third subject, a drop of the light sensitivity curve occurred
under the influence of an ammonia concentration of 0.65 mg/nH. No changes
were caused by a concentration of 0.50 mg/m^.
The electroencephalographic study was made by using the method of
functional encephalography proposed by A. D. Semendnko (1963).
Changes in the biopotentials of the brain were recorded with an eight-
channel electroencephalograph of the Kaiser Co. The tests were conducted on
five subjects.
- 59 -
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The action of the gas in a concentration of 0.36-0.35 rng/m^ caused a
decline in the total bioelectric activity in two subjects and a reinforce-
ment in one. For the same subjects, ammonia in a concentration of 0.22 mg/
was found to be inactive.
In the remaining two subjects, a reinforcement of the bioelectric
activity of the brain was noted under the influence of the gas in a concen-
tration of 0.44 mg/m3. An ammonia concentration of 0.32 mg/m3 was found to
be inactive for them.
The electroencephalographic data showed the highest single maximum
permissible concentration of ammonia in atmospheric air to be 0.2
In order to study the resorptive effect of low ammonia concentrations,
white rats were subjected to a round-the-clock chronic exposure for 84 days.
The animals were divided into four equal groups of 15 in each. One of them
was the control. Of the other three, the first group was subjected to the
action of 20 mg/m^ of ammonia, the second to 2 mg/m^, and the third, to
0.2 mg/m3. Observations of the general state of the animals, their weight,
and the latent reflex time were performed in the course of exposure. In the
blood, the cholinesterase activity, oxidation-reduction function, hemoglobin,
erythrocytes , fluorescent* leucocytes, and nucleic acids, and in the urine,
coproporphyrin and ammonia were determined. After the completion of exposure
and after the recovery period, a pathomorphological analysis of the organs
and tissues were made on some of the animals.
Under the conditions of the exposure, ammonia had no appreciable effect
on the general state and weight of the animals.
The latent time of the reflex response was measured on the "chronore-
flexogenometer" proposed by S. I. Gorshkov (1964). A significant shortening
of the reflex time was established in the first group of rats during the
first month of exposure under the influence of 20 mg/m3 of ammonia.
The blood cholinesterase activity was studied by the method of Fleisher
and E. Paupe modified by N. N. Pushkina and N. V. Klimkina (1964). Ammonia
in a concentration of 20 mg/m-' caused a depression of cholinesterase activity.
The oxidation-reduction function of the blood serum was determined by a
modified method of Gumberg (Yu. L. Apin, 1964). The method is based on a
change in the color of methylene blue with blood serum upon boiling in a water
bath, and on the measurement of the time necessary for complete decolorization.
In our studies, a lengthening of the time of complete decolorization took place
in the first and second groups of rats as compared with the control group.
* Editor's note: For the Russian terms "luminescent" and "luminescence" in this paper, we have substi-
tuted "fluorescent" and "fluorescence" on the basis of the definitions of these terns.
- 60 -
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Studies of the hemoglobin, erythrocytes, fluorescent leucocytes and
nucleic acids in the blood of the experimental groups did not show any
appreciable changes as compared with the control group.
Coproporphyrin in the urine was determined spectrophotometrically
(M. I. Gusev and Yu. K. Smirnov, 1960). During the exposure, an increase
in the excretion of coproporphyrin was noted only in rats of the first group.
The ammonia content in the urine was studied by the Sorensen-Ronchese
method (1963). The results showed an increased content of ammonia in the
urine of rats of the first group.
Pathologico-anatomical, histological and histochemical studies using
standard methods did not reveal any changes in the "internal organs or central
nervous system in animals of the experimental group as compared with the
control.
Thus, in chronic exposure of white rats, ammonia in a concentration of
20 rng/m3 causes changes in the functional state of the nervous system, a
depression of cholinesterase activity and oxidation-reduction function of
the blood, and also an increase in the excretion of coproporphyrin and ammonia
with the urine. An ammonia concentration of 2 mg/m3 caused a change in the
oxidation-reduction function, while ammonia at a level of 0.2 mg/m3 had no
effect on the organism of the experimental animals.
Conclusions
1. The by-product coke and nitrogen fertilizer sections of a metal-
lurgical plant are the most important sources of pollution of atmospheric
air with ammonia.
2. The threshold concentration causing no change in the biopotentials
of the brain is 0.22 mg/m3, and this level was adopted as the highest single
maximum permissible concentration of ammonia in atmospheric air.
3. The minimum active ammonia concentration in a round-the-clock
exposure of white rats was 2 mg/m3, while a concentration of 0.2 mg/m3 was
found to be inactive.
4. The mean daily maximum permissible concentration of ammonia in
atmospheric air is recommended on the same level with the highest single
maximum permissible concentration, i.e., 0.2 mg/m3.
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OZONE CONCENTRATIONS IN THE LOWER STRATOSPHERE HARMFUL TO MAN
Professor A. Kh. Khrgian
From Glavnoe Upravlenie Gidrometeorologicheskoy Sluzhby Pri Sovete Ministrov SSSR.
"Meteorologiya i Gidrologiya", No. 4. Moskovskoe Otdelenie Gidrometeoizdata,
Moskva, p. 10-15, (Aprel1 1969).
The paper examines data from observations of ozone concentrations in the atmosphere, carried
out in the U.S.A. and in Western Europe. The analysis performed is of importance in practical
forecasting of weather and airplane flight conditions in the lower stratopshere.
As a result of the development of aeronautical engineering in the last
decade, an increasing number of flights are made in the lower stratosphere
at altitudes that increase steadily every year. Since jet engines are most
economical when the external air pressure is low, the trend toward speed and
long-range flights forces the airplanes to rise ever higher, and the time is
near when major passenger airlines will be flying airplanes at Mach numbers
of 2 at altitudes of 20 km or higher. Military aviation (for example, rocket
planes, etc.) has long since stepped over this threshold, and pilots are in-
terested in flight conditions not only in the lower, but also in the upper
stratosphere.
One of the problems which thus arise is that of elimination of the harm-
ful effect of the relatively high ozone concentration in the stratosphere on
the health of the passengers and crew and on certain aeronautical materials.
Thus, the destructive action of ozone on rubber (it is known, for example,
that there even exists a method of measuring ozone from the degree of crack-
ing of rubber films), which is very dangerous, particularly because it im-
pairs the pressurization of the airplane, is very important, but will not be
discussed here.
Physiological experiments show that even slight ozone concentrations may
have an effect on man and animals, mainly on their respiratory system. At a
concentration of 10"° (by volume), man begins to perceive the characteristic
odor of ozone; in the open air, this was noted, for example, at the Jungfraujoch
Observatory in the Alps at an altitude of 3500 m. Back in 1927, Dadle observed
that at a volume concentration of about 0.8 x 10"D (units of 10 will be used
hereinafter), man begins to feel ill in only half an hour, and the experiments
of Klaman and Banvroft in 1959 showed that symptoms of irritation and impair-
ment of the function of the respiratory system appear at a concentration of
only about 2, even in young people. A concentration of 60 was lethal for
rabbits and rats.
Somewhat earlier, in 1955, a conference of American industrial hygien-
ists indicated that for a working day lasting 8 hours, the maximum permissible
concentration of ozone in industrial buildings should be no higher than 0.1.
- 62 -
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On the basis of the above and considering the short-lived character of
the action of ozone on the crew in high altitude flights (of the order of 1-2
hours), we shall consider below the conditions when the ratio of the mixture
(concentration by weight) will reach the value r, = 1 x 10"6 in the strato-
sphere, which corresponds to a concentration by volume equal to 1.66 and is
the lower limit of harmful effects of ozone. As the toxic dose correspond-
ing to intolerable conditions in the aircraft cabin we shall take a concen-
tration 5 times as high (rŁ = 5 x 10"6). We shall also assume that the ozone
concentration in the external air sucked in and pressurized before entering
the cabin remains unchanged in this process.
The photochemical theory of atmospheric ozone states that the ozone con-
centration is insignificant in the troposphere, then increases in the strato-
sphere to altitudes of 30-35 km, and above that decreases again. If in addi-
tion one takes into account the vertical movements of air, which also consider-
ably determine the pollution of stratospheric air with ozone, the layer of
high ozone concentrations may descend, or, more accurately, substantially ex-
pand downward, into the lower stratosphere. In individual, probably excep-
tional cases, it may descend to an altitude of about 5 km, as was the case,
for example, above Thule on 27 February 1963. Experience shows that this
descent and expansion of the layer take place most frequently at high lati-
tudes in winter and spring. Such a process simultaneously leads to an in-
crease in the total amount of ozone. As was shown by Kh. Dyutsh, the corre-
lation coefficient between ozone of the lower stratosphere at altitudes of
11.5 and 19 km and the total amount of ozone reaches 0.7-0.8 in winter and
spring. Thus, the increase in the total amount of ozone constitutes a fairly
good indication of the increase in the amount of ozone in the lower strato-
sphere that is of interest to us in this article.
Tropical and subtropical latitudes (up to 35°C. N and S) are pratically
insured against these strong temporary increases of ozone, but nevertheless,
as will be shown below, the ozone concentration at these latitudes in its
main layer in the middle stratosphere is always high and as a rule exceeds
the danger threshold.
In order to analyze the question of toxicity of stratospheric air in
greater detail, we treated certain statistical data of observations on the
vertical distribution of ozone in the lower stratosphere, made by means of
ozone probes. These observations have as yet been few in number and for the
most part cover the temperate latitude belt. Of greatest interest from the
standpoint of the given problem is the belt of high latitudes, which un-
fortunately has been studied thus far only in a very small number of verti-
cal soundings by means of an ozone probe. We obviously take the fullest
possible advantage of these soundings.
The existing more extensive observational material obtained by the op-
tical method of reversal pertains to a large number of points of the globe
and could therefore be of particular interest to us. However, it has one
- 63 -
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essential drawback in this case. The reversal method, even in its newest
version using a computer, makes it possible to determine the average amount
of ozone in nine fairly thick layers, of which only the second, from 250 mb
(10.3-14.8 km based on the standard atmosphere) is of interest to us. The
existing tabulations of ozonometric data indicate only the average partial
pressure of ozone p3 in this large layer. In individual thinner layers of
the lower stratosphere, p3 can obviously be appreciably higher than this
highly averaged p^.
With these qualifications, we shall nevertheless consider the available
data.
First of all, let us turn to the average vertical distribution of p3 in
micromillibars (ymb) for different areas of the globe, as given by Kh. Kyutsh,
We are of course most interested in data of observations made in the spring,
when the amount of ozone reaches its maximum. Figure 1 a shows curves of the
average vertical distribution of ozone above Resolute (Canadian Arctic
archipelago, 75° N), Uppsala (60° N), Arosa (47° N), Aspendale (38° S), Mount
Ebu (26° N) and Leopoldville (4° S). The figure shows curves for the weight
concentration rx = 1 x 10"6, which, as we have stated, should be considered^
the lowest that still has an effect on the human organism, and r2 = 5 x 10 ,
which already is undoubtedly a toxic dose of ozone.
SO W ISO 260 ISO 3OI
vwi
so -co iso m
P5» pa*
Fig. 1. Average vertical distribution of ozone in spring and fall after Kh. Dyutsh.
1 - Resolute, 2 - Uppsala, 3 - Arosa, 4 - Aspendale, 5 - Mount Ebu, 6 - Leopoldville-
Kinshasa, 7 - Argentine Islands (65"S). Pine curves - isolines of ozone concentration
in g/g.
- 64 -
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It is quite obvious from Fig. la that on the average, in the spring, the
value of rj occurs above polar latitudes at an altitude of only 11 km (and
higher), above temperate latitudes at 12-13 km, and above tropics and the
equatorial region, at 18-19 km. Above these levels, the harmful influence
of ozone during flight will be noticeable in the majority of cases. The toxic
value of r2 is observed (again on the average) at altidudes of 21-22 km. In
comparison with this value, the difference between the latitudes is much
smaller than in comparison with r^. Air above 21-22 km is equally harmful
above almost all the latitudes. The maximum values r = 13-14 x 10"^ are
typical chiefly of the tropical belt above 26 km.
Figure 1 b shows analogous curves for the fall season. The shape of the
vertical distribution curves is generally analogous to that observed in the
spring, but the amount of ozone in the stratosphere .b.elow 20 km is much less
in the fall than in the spring. Correspondingly, also the value of r^ can be
found on the average at greater heights: above Uppsala and Arosa, for ex-
ample, above 16-17 km. In this respect conditions for flights in the lower
stratosphere in the fall are substantially more favorable than in the spring.
This seasonal difference is maintained in polar and in temperate zones. Even
in the upper stratosphere, above 25 km, the ozone concentration, in general
is lower in the fall than in the spring.
In the tropical zone, however, the difference between fall and spring
in the upper stratosphere is slight, and of no practical importance.
70' so' so1 to° x' w or om or w° so" w so' so' vt
Fig. 2. Average concentration of ozone (by weight) as e. function
of altitude, yg/gt in March-April (a) and September-October (b).
Of particular interest in Fig. 1 b are data for Argentine Islands in
Antarctica (65° S). The amount of ozone there is almost as high as during
the fall hemisphere above the Arctic. Obviously, within the confines of
this latitudinal belt, the Antarctic is just as dangerous as the Arctic, and
only the "gap" existing above the South Pole in the total amount of ozone
can also affect the concentration of ozone in the lower stratosphere. However,
this hypothesis must still be verified.
- 65 -
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Figure 2 illustrates in more detail the latitudinal dependence of high
ozone concentrations. It shows how the curve r, = 1 x 10~" descends above
the greater part of the spring hemisphere, and descends slightly near the
pole in the fall hemisphere. Higher 0, concentrations are distributed more
evenly at altitudes of 20-25 km above the entire globe. The region of
highest concentrations above 8 x 10~°, i.e., that of greatest ozone danger,
is at an altitude of 29-37 km between latitudes of 40 and 0° in the gall
hemisphere and 0 and 51° in the spring hemisphere. The decrease of the con-
centration in the middle stratosphere toward the pole is particularly notice-
able in the fall hemisphere.
Let us now turn to the recurrence of large and small ozone concentra-
tions in the lower stratosphere. We shall approximately evaluate the proba-
bility that an airplane will encounter a dangerous ozone concentration at
any given level.
The only comparable quantitative material permitting an evaluation of
this probability are systematic observations by means of ozone probes above
Boulder (40° N, Colorado, U.S.A.) in 1963-1964. We selected from these data
the values of ozone pressure p, at levels of 150 mb (13.6 km in terms of
standard atmosphere) and 100 mb (16.25 km in terms of standard atmosphere)
separately for the spring (March-May, when the ozone maximum is observed) and
end of summer (July-September, when the total amount of ozone is lowest).
Further, we calculated the weight concentration of ozone r = 1.657 | and exam-
ined the frequency of our values from 0.1 x 10~6 to 2 x 10"^ at both levels
(Fig. 3).
In the spring, the average value of r is 0.75 at the 150 mb level and
r = 1.0 x 10~° at the 100 mb level. At the 150 mb level, values r = 0.60-
1.10 are repeated most frequently at that time (more than 50% of all the
observations). A concentration greater than 1.0 is repeated in 25% of the
cases. This means that at the 13.6 km level, the ozone concentration becomes
"worrisome" in approximately one-fourth of all the flights, although it is
still not harmful. The highest r values reached 2.3 on 3 and 25 March 1964,
this value being close to toxic. These values, however, were noted only
twice in 125 observations.
At the 100 mb level (16.25 km), the highest frequency was displayed by
r values from 0.7 to 1.5, which accounted for 65 cases out of 127 (52%).
This interval of the most probable values is appreciably shifted "upwards"
in relation to that which was noted at the 150 mb level. The concentration
was above r. = 1.0 in 74 cases (58%), i.e., it reached the "worrisome" thres-
hold comparatively often. The highest r values (3.2 and 3-3) were also noted
on 24 and 25 March 1964. The value of r was above 2.0 in 17 cases (13%).
Thus, an increase in flight altitude from 13.8 to 16.25 km is associated
with both an appreciable increase in the most probable values and with an
increase of the maximum r values.
- 66 -
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100 mb
KHUrfl
n n
In the summer above Boulder, the
ozone concentrations at the levels con-
sidered are extremely low. The average
concentration at the 150 mb level is a-
round 0.19, and at the 100 mb level a-
mounted to 0.37. The maxima of r do not
exceed 0.7 and 1.25 respectively, and
the ozone danger is practically non-
existent.
r-l
i i
in
Tl-n
n
Fig. 3. Frequency of different ozone con-
centrations above Boulder U.S.A. at 150 and
100 mb levels in spring (solid lines) and
summer (dashed lines). Arrow denotes value
of concentration having a toxic effect.
Let us also examine the data of
soundings made in 1962-1963 at various
points of North America. They are in-
teresting in .that they cover a broad
range of latitudes, from the Panama
Canal (9°N) to Thule (77°N). Of these
values, we also selected (for comparison)
the data for the 150 and 100 mb levels.
The soundings of interest to us covered
the period January-March 1963. An appre-
ciable frequency was shown by higher r
values only at the stations of Goose Bay
(53°N), Fort Churchill (59°N), Eielson
(Alaska, 65°N) and Thule (Greenland,
77°N). These are the points to which
They give an idea of the latitudinal belt in
we will confine ourselves here.
which the dangerous phenomenon under consideration takes place.
Of the 22 cases of observations at all four points, the ozone concentra-
tion above r = 2 rose in 7 cases at the 150 mb level and in 21 cases at the
100 mb level. At the 100 mb level, the maximum r value reached 4.95 above
Thule on 27 February 1963.
Let us note that in this series of observations the absolute maximum was
6.7 x 10"6 at an altitude of 17.8 km on 17 March 1968 above Fort Churchill.
These values indicate a direct and great danger lurking in the arctic and
subarctic zones for the crews and passengers of stratospheric airplanes. This
calls for appropriate measures to purify the external air entering the plane.
A much more massive but also less graphic material is supplied by the
reversal method; observations based on the latter are being conducted at
many stations throughout the world. As we have noted above, these observa-
tions are coarser in the sense that they provide us only with information on
the average ozone concentration in a large layer of 250-125 mb (10.3-14.8 km).
We first used data of the oldest station, Arosa (Switzerland), which had
the longest series of observations at its disposal. The data published by this
station obtained by the reversal method, cover 1956-1964. We chose for these
- 67 -
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years all cases in which the average concentration (by weight) in the second
layer was greater than 1 x 10~ , by analogy with our previous standard. This
corresponded to an average ozone pressure in the layer p"q > 113 ymb. Such
cases were observed only from January to April. In the course of 8 years
(1956-1959, 1961-1964), there were 58 of them out of 563 days of observations
(10.3%), and the largest number of such cases was in February - 25 out of
127 days (19.77.).
The highest concentration in the second layer was observed on 14 March
1962, when p"3 = 185 ymb, i.e., r = 1.63.
Among data of high latitude stations, we have only relatively short
series of observations using the reversal method on Argentine Islands and
Resolute. For the former, the available data pertain chiefly to the summer
(17 out of 27 observations), i. e., to the season of lowest r values, and
are therefore of no interest to us. The ozone concentrations here were
generally very low. On Resolute, a relatively large number of observations
were made in the spring, in April (20 out of 26), and systematically higher
concentrations were observed. In April, r here is always greater than 1, and
in one case as high as 1.84 (p^ = 207 vimb). The volume of the material, how-
ever, is very slim and does not permit one to draw any other statistical con-
clus ions.
In summarizing, it may be stated that in the lower stratosphere (up
to 16-17 km), the probability of dangerous and even merely perceptible con-
centrations is nil in the belt from 0° to 40° latitude and increases only at
higher latitudes in the winter and spring. At that time, they must be taken
into account here when flights are made. Flights at higher levels will en-
counter a larger ozone content at all latitudes.
Moscow State University Received on 29 November 1968.
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IONIZATION OF ATMOSPHERIC AIR OF THE TOWN OF CHERVONOGRAD
AND ITS SANITARY IMPORTANCE
M. I. Karpeko
Chervonograd Municipal Sanitary Epidemiological Station
From Ministerstvo Zdravookhraneniya Ukr.SSR, L'vovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Epidemiologii i Mikrobiologii. "Faktory vneshney sredy i ikh
znachenie dlya zdorov'ya naseleniya". Respublikanskiy mezhvedomstvennyy
sbomik. Vypusk 2. "Zdorov'ya", Kiev, p. 173-176, (1970).
According to the data in the literature, the degree of ionization of
atmospheric air depends on various environmental factors (A. A. Minkh, 1958;
A. P. Sokolov, 1926; M. D. Kravchenko, 1939; A. P. Spasskiy, 1948; S. M. Chu-
binskiy, 1959; 0. A. Voytsekhovskiy, 1959; M. S. Averkiyev, 1960; Yu. D. Du-
manskiy, 1963, and others). The sanitary importance of the ionization of
air is determined by its varied influence on the human organism. It has been
shown that negative ions of air improve the blood composition, function of
the nervous system, and working capacity, and are used in the treatment of
many illnesses (V. G. Kunevich, 1934, 1955; V. M. Voskresenskiy, 1958;
V. A. Titarenko, 1960; M. P. Davydova, 1959; Z. H. Shkulova, T. N. Pavlyuk,
1958; A. A. Kyuntsel', 1950; E. K. Siyrde, K. V. Gerasimova, A. K. Tsente,
V. A. Syargova, 1959).*
The object of our studies was to investigate the ionization of atmos-
pheric air in a town in connection with its pollution with emissions from
boiler houses, mine pile-like waste dump, and apartment furnaces, in com-
parison with the outskirts of the town, where there are no industrial or
domestic enterprises to pollute the atmospheric air.
Our study was also aimed at comparing the data obtained with meteoro-
logical factors.
*
The ionization of air was studied by using an SI-1 Tverskiy-Otto instru-
ment with an SG-1M electrometer at stationary points: the central part of
the town, mine I "Chervonogradskaya", the grounds of the bread factory, and
the outskirts of the town in the area of a hospital center.
A total of 240 measurements were taken at the investigated points during
the month of September 1968.
Results of the studies are given in the Table.
* Editor's note: A bibliography does not accompany this paper.
- 69 -
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Table
lonization of Atmospheric Air of the Town of Chervonograd.
Point
Mine I "Cher-
vonogradskaya11
(industrial
site)
Waste dump of
mine I "Cher-
vonogradskaya"
(distance froi
waste dump,
200 m)
Bread factory
(boiler house)
Central part of
town (resi-
dential
blocks)
Outskirts of
town (hospi-
tal
center)
Number of Ions in 1 cm^ of Air
n +
363
264
238
338
552
n —
325
224
208
277
524
N+
4291
6187
7512
1237
1694
N —
3990
6229
7448
1062
1569
D ±
688
488
446
615
1076
N±
8281
12416
14960
2299
3263
e
1.11
1,17
1,14
1,22
1,05
K
12,03
25,44
33,31
3.73
2,10
Q
1,07
0,90
•1.00
1,10
1,07
It is evident from the table that light and heavy negative ions are
somewhat less in number than positive ions at all of the points studied,
the smallest number of ions being observed on the grounds of the bread fac-
tory and at the waste pile of mine I "Chervonogradskaya", this being due to
a deterioration of the sanitary state of air caused by emissions from the
boiler houses and the presence of the waste pile. Compared to the outskirts
of the town, the quantity of light ions at the first four points is 1.5-2.4
times smaller. At the same time, the unipolarity coefficient is greater
than unity and amounts to 1.11-1.22, whereas on the outskirts it is some-
what less, 1.05. It should be noted that the atmospheric air of the out-
skirts of the town is more ionized than in areas where smoke and gas pol-
lution is observed.
Thus the prevalence of heavy ions over light ones as compared with the
outskirts of the town is considerable and is an indication of atmospheric
pollution.
The electric index of air purity on the outskirts of the town in the
area of the hospital center is 2.10, and in the central part of the town,
3.73, whereas in the area of the bread factory, where emissions from the
boiler house are present, it is 33.31, near the waste pile of mine I "Cher-
vonogradskaya" 25.44, and at the mine site, 12.03.
The decrease in the quantity of light ions in the air of the town as
compared with its outskirts substantially depends on the pollution of the
- 70 -
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atmosphere with dust and smoke and is due to an inadequate amount of greenery
in the town sections. The small height of the stacks of the boiler rooms
in these sections and the lack of gas and ash removal are responsible for
the pollution of air with smoke discharges.
The pollution of the air of Chervonograd is also substantially due to
house furnaces, which in 75% of the apartments consume solid fuel. Accord-
ing to our calculations, 2,655.8 tons of ash falls on the territory of
Chervonograd each year, of which 2008.1 tons falls during the furnace season,
when the dust pollution of atmospheric air varies from 0.79 to 1.35 mg/m3.
Of the 1000 persons questioned, residing in Chervonograd, 100% com-
plained of the presence of air pollution; 91.3%, of difficulty in aerating
the apartments; and 100%, of laundry becoming dirty Vhen dried in the yard
We also compared the ionization of atmospheric air with meteorological
factors: temperature, hunidity, and barometric pressure. As the air temper-
ature dropped from 20 to 15°C., a decrease in the concentration of ions was
observed; as the humidity of air increased from 85 to 92%, the concentration
of ions also decreased; a 5 mm decrease of barometric pressure led to an
increase of the ions. The wind velocity did not produce any characteristic
changes in the ion concentration, since the measurements of ions were carried
out for a slight wind force, from 1.5 to 3 m/sec.
Similar results were obtained by 0. A. Voytsekhovskiy (1959) and other
authors.
The above studies of the ionization of atmospheric air of Chervonograd
made it possible to develop and confirm a set of measures aimed at improving
the conditions in the air reservoir for 1968-1970 and present them to executive
agencies for adoption. These measures included: conversion of mine waste
piles to flat piles, which are safer to operate and convenient for operations
preventing their self-ignition, conversion of town boiler houses to gas,
gasification of the town, gas-ash removal from mine boiler houses, creation
of green zones between industrial enterprises and the town, additional enlarge-
ment of green plantings, and establishment of large and small parks taking
into account the assortment of tree species that raise the natural ionization
level. Plans are to provide the water reservoir, in the town of Chervonograd
with a water table area of no less than 7000 m^, and there are a number of
other measures to improve the layout of the town, some of which have already
been implemented.
-71 -
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DETERMINATION OF LATENT TIME OF REFLEX REACTIONS OF LABORATORY ANIMALS
ACTED UPON BY TOXIC AGENTS IN ATMOSPHERIC AIR
M. I. Gusev and A. A. Minayev
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Erismana. "Voprosy gigieny atmosfernogo vozdukha i
planirovki naselennykh mest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 24-26, (1968).
At the present time, research in pharmacology, toxicology, physiology,
sports medicine, labor hygiene, and communal hygiene (in studies of the micro-
climate) is making extensive use of the measurement of the latent time of re-
flex reactions as a highly sensitive indicator of the functional state of the
nervous system, adequately reflecting its changes.
By latent time of reflex reactions is meant the time required for the
conduction of stimulation along the reflex arc, consisting of a series of
various morphological and functional elements: receptors, afferent nerves,
nerve centers, efferent nerves, effectors.
Studies by Soviet and foreign authors established that although the mag-
nitude of the latent reflex time is an integral indicator consisting of the
time of conduction of the stimulation through all the component parts of the
reflex arc, nevertheless the link in which the most important changes of its
magnitude occur are the synapses of central neurons and their cell bodies.
It should be emphasized that this involves the determination of the func-
tional state of various sections of the nervous systems at the instant of re-
production of the reflex arc of the entire act, which is a component part of
many natural acts executed by the organism in the complex circumstances of
life. In this sense, as was pointed out by S. I. Gorshkov (1962): "The la-
tent time of a reflex reaction is much longer than that of chronaxy charac-
terizing the functional state of any given tissue at the instant of its re-
production of a single stimulation wave, i. e., of an artificial product not
found in natural life."
An accurate measurement of the latent time of a reflex reaction requires
the observance of a series of conditions which include primarily the follow-
ing: coincidence of the start of measurement of latent time with the instant
of application of the stimulation; discontinuation of the operation of the
counter at the instant of manifestation of the response reaction; the stimulus
should appear instantaneously without a lag and not extend beyond the useful
time. These requirements are met by the reflexogenometer proposed by S. I.
Gorshkov (1964).
- 72 -
-------
The procedure for the determination of the latent time of an uncondition-
ed reflex reaction with this instrument consists in the following:
1) the rat is placed in a chamber; its extremities touch parallel metal
plates, and the chamber lid supporting the counter switch rests on the back
of the animal;
2) the time scan of the instrument is turned on (1 rps);
3) the threshold intensity of the pulsed current that constitutes the
unconditioned electrocutaneous stimulus is selected. At the threshold cur-
rent intensity, the rat is startled, causing the switch on the chamber lid
to close and the operation of the counter to stop;
4) the time elapsed from the instant of application of the stimulation
(position of the sliding contact) until the indicator of the counter comes
to rest (determined from the scale of the instrument) will be the latent time
of the defensive unconditioned reflex reaction expressed in sigmas.
Five measurements were carried out in a single series of experiments.
In order to avoid trace phenomena, the interval between them was made to
last 2-3 minutes. The slight scatter of the data obtained is quite regular
and constitutes in itself a functional characteristic of the state of the
central nervous system. The arithmetic average of all the measurements is
the latent time of the defensive unconditioned reflex reaction. Since the
current intensity of the painful stimulus affects the latent reaction time,
this intensity must be the threshold value and must not be changed in a
single series of experiments (five measurements).
The results of the study were recorded in the following manner (Table 1).
Studies of the change in the latent time of the defensive unconditioned
reflex reaction were made once a week at the same hour on five rats of each
group. The results obtained were processed by variational statistics, sigma
being found by the range method.
t
In the laboratory of the department of Sanitary Protection of Atmospheric
Air, Moscow Scientific Research Institute im. F. F. Erisman, the variations
of the latent time of the unconditioned reflex reaction in white rats were
studied by subjecting the animals to chronic exposure in vapors of ot-methyl-
styrene, epichlorohydrin, and ammonia, and to the combined action of phenol
and sulfur dioxide. The active concentrations were found to be 5.0 mg/m3
for a-methylstyrene, 20.0 mg/m3 for epichlorohydrin, 20 mg/m3 for ammonia,
and for the combined action, 0.05 mg/m3 for phenol and 0.5 mg/mj for sulfur
dioxide.
The observed variations of the functional state of the central nervous
system in the animals under the influence of chronic inhalation of the toxic
- 73 -
-------
substances present in atmospheric air were confirmed by changes in the activ-
ity of cholinesterase and in the content of nucleic acids in the blood, an
impairment of the excretion of coproporphyrin with the urine, and pathomor-
phologic changes in the central nervous system.
Table 1.
(Control group).
Date
12. Ill
No. of
rat
1
2
3
4
5
Current
intensi-
ty in U
20
20
25
. 18
IS
Latent reflex time in sigmas.
1
40
40
45
43
48
2
45
45
43
40
45
3
48
40
50
36
50
4
40
48
44
46
35
5
3«
50
40
34
45
212
218
211
204
223
M
42,4
43,6
44,4
40,8
44,6
Thus, our studies and the results obtained make it possible to recom-
mend the method of determination of the latent time of the defensive uncon-
ditioned reflex reaction for use in the sanitary standardization of toxic
substances in atmospheric air.
LITERATURE
1. FopuiKOB C. H.. CKPMTOC apeMa pecJwieKTOpHHx pearaiHfi KBK
HWH noKasaie.ib cj)yHKUiioHa.ibHoro COCTOHHHH nepBiiofi CHcreMH.
cxaa flHccepTamia, M., 1962.
2. F"o p in K o B C. H., n3HO,iorii'iecKne MCTOAHKH B nirneHe. Tpyati Moc-
KOBCKoro HHHT IIM. $. . SpucMana, M., 1964.
3. SaKycoa B. B. apMaKp.iornH HepBHOft ciiCTeMbi, M., 1957.
4. T a s a k I., F a j t a T., Bi'iaoii3MCHennH TOKOB fleficTBiin iicponux r.o.io-
KOH npii IUMCHCIIHHX TeMneparypu. I. Neurophysial, 1948. 114, 311--31G.
- 74. -
-------
METABOLIC REACTIONS IN THE ORGANISM IN THE PRESENCE OF
CHRONIC INTOXICATION WITH CARBON MONOXIDE
I. I. Datsenko
L'vov Medical Institute
From Ministerstvo Zdravookhraneniya Ukr.SSR, L'vovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Epidemiologii i Mikrobiologii. "Faktory vneshney sredy i ikh
znachenie dlya zdorov'ya naseleniya". Respublikanskiy mezhvedomstvennyy
sbornik. Vypusk 2. "Zdorov'ya", Kiev, p. 146-149, (1970).
Chronic carbon monoxide intoxication as an independent nosological dis-
ease form, manifested as a highly polymorphous set of symptoms, requires a
further elucidation of the fine mechanisms of its generation. Shifts in the
organism that are difficult to account for are sometimes ascribed to the
unknown area of cellular metabolism impaired by the direct action of carbon
monoxide. His tochemical studies have successfully shown that even negligibly
low carbon monoxide concentrations in the inhaled air are capable of altering
the stages of normally occurring metabolic processes in the organism. This
applies primarily to the principal types of metabolism, i.e., the protein,
fat and carbohydrate types.
The earliest changes in carbon monoxide intoxication are observed in the
content of fatty substances in the brain tissue. An increase in fatty sub-
stances stained with sudan black (phospholipids) and according to Jackson
(total fat content) was particularly manifest in the cerebral cortex. In
the cerebellum, lipid increase was chiefly concentrated in white matter.
Purkinje cells underwent a considerable increase in lipids. A pattern of
substantial increase in the content of fatty substances was also character-
istic of the tissues of the myocardium, liver, kidneys, and adrenal glands
(I. I. Datsenko, N. S. Dotsenko, V. Z. Martynyuk, and Ye. I. Pal'chevskiy,
1965).* Changes were observed histochemically in the carbohydrate and pro-
tein metabolisms, but they were less pronounced than changes in lipids.
Analysis of results of these studies led to the corollary question,
closely related to fat metabolism and playing a predominant part in the
pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, of the quantitative content of cholesterol
in the blood in the presence of chronic intoxication with carbon monoxide.
This question is the subject of the present paper.
The total cholesterol was determined by the Mrskos-Tovarek method
(Y. Todorov, "Clinical Laboratory Studies in Pediatrics", Sofia, 1963).
The method is based on the principle of the appearance of an emerald color
in the reaction of cholesterol with acetic anhydride. The hematological
* Editor's notes A bibliography does not accompany this paper.
- 75 -
-------
indices were determined by the standard procedure.
Table 1
Blood Picture of White Rats and Guinea Pigs
Under Conditions of Chronic Carbon Monoxide Intoxication
Group of
Animals
Experimental
White Rats
Control
White Rats
Experimental
White Rats
Control
White Rats
Experimental
White Rats
Control
White Rats
Experimental
Guinea
Eigs
Control
Guinea
Pigs
Series' of
Experiments
I
II
III
II
,i
O 01
*«
a -a
ll
Ł5 CQ
15
15
30
28
10
10
5
5
Average Values of Indices
•S
€
r-l
I*
90
89
89
90
91
97
97
98
glta
la's "8
Ł>•Ł B O
wSVnm '
8319000
7631000
6859000
7550000
6589000
7530000
. 6762000
7100000
Leukocytes
13323
15589
11873
12238
14175
15280
t5541
15650
Segments
23.5
26
23
20
22
24
17
28
Lymphocytes
74
74
73
77
72
69
75
%
65
Monocytes
2
I
2
1
2
4
1
1
Eosinophils
^
I
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
-3
8
fc
$
w
I
I
1
I
2
I
1
1
•3Ł
5,5
4,6
7,0
5,0
4,4
7,0
5,0
5,0
The animals were exposed in an exposure chamber into which was intro-
duced carbon monoxide prepared by the action of heated concentrated sulfuric
acid on concentrated formic acid. The carbon monoxide concentration iti the
exposure chamber, calculated for each series of experiments, was systematically
cheeked by the Reberg^Vinokurov method.
A total of 40 animals were used in the chronic experiments.
The experimental animals (15 white rats) were subjected to a chronic
five-hour daily exposure to carbon monoxide present in a concentration of
0.009-0.018 mg/1 in the air of the chamber, in the course of 1.5 months
(series I of experiments), then to a concentration of 0.030-0.040 mg/1 for
another 3 months (series II of experiments)* and finally to a concentration
* Tin series II of experiments, all the biochemical indices were determined twice, after 1.5 months and
after y months of exposure.
- 76 -
-------
of 0.080-0.100 mg/1 for 1 month (series III of experiments). Fifteen white
rats served as the control. Five experimental guinea pigs were subjected
to chronic daily exposure to carbon monoxide at a concentration of 0.030-
0.040 mg/1 in the air of the chamber for 1.5 months. Five guinea pigs
served as the control.
Results of the hematological indices are given in Table 1.
As is evident from the above data, the amounts of hemoglobin, erythro-
cytes and leucocytes and also the differential white count indices in the
experimental animals do not differ appreciably from those of the control
white rats and guinea pigs.
In contrast, studies of the total blood cholesterol showed statistically
significant differences between the control and experimental animals in each
series of experiments (Table 2).
Table 2
Changes in the Amounts of Total Cholesterol in the Blood of Rats in the
Presence of Chronic Carbon Monoxide Intoxication
Group of
Animals
Experimental
White Rats
Control
White Rats
t
P
Average Values of Cholesterol (in ng #)
Series I. CO Con-
centration
0.009-0.018 ng/1
n
11
13
Ł±sj
196 ±2.70
180±2,94
4.01
<0,01
Series H. .CO Con-
centration
0.030-O.C40 ng/1
n
21
22
i±%
180±2.51
167±2.33
3.80
<0.01
Series III. CO
Concentration
0.080-0.100 nfc/1
n
9
9
;±s;
176 ±2,08
169 ±2.21
2.30
<0.05
Average values of total cholesterol in the blood of experimental guinea
pigs are also higher than in the controls, and amount to 163 * 2.65 versus
153 + 2.68 mg % (P<0.05).
Hence, hyperlipemia is observed at the earliest stages of poisoning
under the influence of minute carbon monoxide concentrations. A similar
difference was noted in the second and third series of experiments.
Thus, the data obtained on the cholesterol content of the blood and
also the presence of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood of the experimental
animals attest to the change in the metabolic processes in the organism in
the presence of chronic carbon monoxide intoxication. They are in agree-
ment with and supplement the results of histochemical studies and permit
one to postulate a considerable influence of carbon monoxide on the develop-
ment of atherosclerotic symptoms in the organism. Consideration of the latter
fact should be mandatory in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease by
clinicians.
- 77 -
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DATA FOR SUBSTANTIATING MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE CONCENTRATIONS
OF ELEMENTAL SULFUR DUST IN THE AIR OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS
L. I. Brilinskiy
L'vov Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology
From Ministerstvo Zdravookhraneniya Ukr.SSR, L'vovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Epidemiologii i Mikrobiologii. "Faktory vneshney sredy i ikh
znachenie dlya zdorov'ya naseleniya". Respublikanskiy mezhvedomstvennyy
sbornik. Vypusk pervyy. "Zdorov'ya"* Kiev, p. 165-167, (1969).
Sulfur dust as an industrial impurity has not been studied by anyone,
and according to sanitary legislation (SN245-63) belongs to the category of
nontoxic dusts.
The object of the present study was to investigate the biological effect
of elemental sulfur dust on the organism of experimental animals in order to
substantiate its maximum permissible concentration in the air of industrial
buildings.
Studies of the toxic action of sulfur dust in a chronic experiment were
conducted on 86 male white rats with an initial weight of 160-200 g. Exposure
of animals in the experimental groups was carried out in a dust chamber in
the course of 4.5 months, 3.5 hours a day. The inhalational exposure of the
animals involved the use of industrial dust of sulfur ore containing 48% of
elemental sulfur, and also dust of pure elemental sulfur. The amounts of
dust inhaled by the animals were recalculated in terms of pure sulfur.
The animals in the experiment were divided into 7 groups - four experi-
mental and three control groups. The first experimental group was exposed
to sulfur ore dust in a concentration (in terms of pure sulfur) of 4.5 mg/nH
of air, and the second and third, to 11.2 and 30.8 mg/m^ respectively. The
fourth experimental group of white rats was subjected to inhalational expo-
sure to dust of pure elemtnal sulfur in a concentration of 8.6 mg/m^.
In all the animals, the morphological composition of the blood, the
activity of the blood enzymes, catalyse and peroxidase, and also the content
of sulfhydryl groups and sugar in the blood were investigated under dynamic
conditions. The weight increase and behavior of the animals were taken into
account. The studies were made before the start of exposure (background)
and at definite times following the start of the experiment (first, second,
third months of exposure), and also after the experiment was completed. In
addition, after the completion of exposure, the ascorbic acid content of;the
vital organs was determined in rats of the second group, exposed to sulfur
dust in the concentration of 11.2 mg/m-* of air.
- 78 -
-------
As was shown by the results of the observations, a statistically sig-
nificant 43.0% decrease in weight gain took place only in animals of
experimental group III, subjected to the chronic action of elemental sulfur
dust in a concentration of 30.8 mg/m^, as compared with the control group.
In rats of experimental groups which received lower doses of sulfur, the
weight gain was no different from that of the controls.
In view of the fact that when sulfur enters through the respiratory
tract it may react in the alveoli with free SH groups of the blood, we
undertook a study of these groups in the blood of the experimental animals.
In animals that received sulfur in the concentration of 11.2 mg/rn-* of
air, a 10.7% decrease in the content of SH groups (P = 98.9) was noted in
the third month of exposure. A statistically significant decrease in the
content of sulfhydryl groups in the blood in the second and third months
of the experiment was also observed in animals which received sulfur in the
dose of 8.6 mg/m3, but toward the end of the experiment their content re-
turned to normal, apparently as a result of adaptation. In rats subjected
to inhalational exposure in the dose of 30.8 mg/nH, the content of sulfhy-
dryl groups of the blood decreased by 12.8-20.5% in the course of the entire
period of exposure. In rats of the control groups and animals exposed to
sulfur dust in the concentration of 4.5 mg/m^, no changes occurred in the
content of sulfhydryl groups in the blood.
Thus, sulfur in doses of 8.6, 11.2 and 30.8 mg/m^ of air, when it pene-
trates via the respiratory tract, leads to a 10.7-20.5% decrease in. sulfhy-
dryl groups of the blood of white rats, this being in agreement with the
literature data regarding the mechanism of conversion of sulfur in the organ-
ism.
As we know, hydrogen sulfide exerts a general toxic action by depressing
the tissue respiration enzymes. This is associated with effects of hypoxia
in the tissues and with an impairment of the oxidation-reduction processes.
Hydrogen sulfide is an inhibitor of many enzymes, including catalase and
peroxidase (M. Dikson and E. Webb, 1961).*
We undertook a study of the activity of the above-mentioned enzymes in
the blood of experimental white rats exposed to sulfur dust.
It was found that in animals that received sulfur in doses of 11.2 and
8.6 mg/m3 of air, a statistically significant 12.3-12.9% decrease in peroxi-
dase activity of the blood took place starting with the second month of
exposure and lasting until the end of the experiment. In rats exposed to
sulfur dust in the 30.8 mg/m3 concentration, a 13.1% depression of peroxidase
activity was observed as early as the first month of the experiment; in the
third month and following completion of the experiment, this decrease amounted
~' * Editor's note: A bibliography does not accompany this paper.
- 79 -
-------
to 14.2 and 13.0% respectively (P = 97.1 and 98.9%). A tendency toward a
decrease in the peroxidase activity of the blood was noted in rats exposed
to sulfur dust in the concentration of 4.5 mg/m3 of air. The activity of
blood peroxidase of the animal control groups did not decrease. No appre-
ciable changes were detected in the activity of blood catalase in the
experimental animals. The observed depression of peroxidase activity of
the blood in experimental animals may indicate a disturbance of oxidation
processes in the organism.
According to the data of Ya. R. Volynskiy (1947), hydrogen sulfide
poisoning causes an increase in the content of vitamin C in the vital
organs as a result of a disturbance of oxidation processes. Studies which
we undertook in this direction, conducted on rats subjected to inhalational
exposure to sulfur dust in the 11.2 mg/m3 concentration, did not reveal any
substantial changes in the vitamin C content of the tissues.
In connection with reports published in the literature concerning
changes in blood proteins among workers employed in the sulfur industry
(G. Paparopoli, 1955; V. Gramignani, 1959), we undertook studies of the
content of total protein and its fractions in the blood serum of experimental
animals.
Results of the studies established that in rats exposed to sulfur dust
in doses of 8.6, 11.2 and 30.8 mg/m3 there was only a slight increase in the
content of total protein, 4.5-8.1%, as compared with the control group.
A study of the protein fractions showed the presence of hypoalbuminemia
(up to 25.0%) as a result of a statistically significant increase of the
globulin fractions, chiefly a»- (up to 40.0%) and 3 fractions. The data
obtained indicate a disturbance of protein synthesis in the liver.
On the basis of earlier studies of the working conditions among workers
of a sulfur plant (L. I. Brilinskiy, 1963) and results of the present experi-
mental studies it may be concluded that a sulfur dust concentration of
10 mg/m3 of air, which at the present time is permitted by legislation as the
maximum permissible concentration, is not harmless to the organism of the
workers and should be decreased; a maximum permissible concentration of ele-
mental sulfur dust in the air of industrial buildings at a level of 2 mg/m3
can be recommended.
- 80 -
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HYGIENIC EVALUATION OF ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTION BY DISCHARGES OF A
SULFUR-PRODUCING CHEMICAL-MINING COMPLEX
N. N. Sakhnovskaya
L vov Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochkhraneniya Ukr.SSR, L'vovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Epidemiologii i Mikrobiologii. "Faktory vneshney sredy i Ikh znachenie
dlya zdorov'ya naseleniya". Vypusk pervyy. Kiev, p. 55-59, (1969).
The Rozdol'skiy chemical-mining complex, one of the largest sulfur-producing
enterprises in the world, operates in the Carpathian region, using its rich de-
posits of natural sulfur.
The literature has lacked data on atmospheric pollution by enterprises
producing lump sulfur and on the possible influence of atmospheric pollution
on the population living in the zone of such enterprises. Sanitary norms SN
245-63 for designing industrial enterprises do not specify the width of the
sanitary prvtec-Mve zone for such industry.
In this connection, studies described in the present report were carried
out by the Hygiene Department of the L'vov Institute of Epidemiology and Micro-
biology. Results of the study of atmospheric pollution by discharges of the
Rozdol'skiy sulfur-producing chemical-mining complex (903 analyses) are given
in the table.
Gas Pollution of Atmospheric Air in the Zone at the
Sulfur-Producing Chemical-Mining Complex (mg/nr)
distance
from source
of discharges
in m
100
250
500
1000
2000
3000
5000
7000
hydrogen sulf ide concentration
maximum .
10,700
2,480
1,160
0.600
0,290
0,012
0,002
0
average <* ± Sxj
1,124+0,355
0,265+0,106
0,107+0,040
0,162+0,025
0,037+0,004
0,004+0,0002
0,001 ±0,0001
0
sulfur dioxide concentration
maximum
1,80
0,34
0,23
0,35
0,35
— _
—
0,36
average <* T Sx*
0,140±0,049
0,115+0,040
0,062+0,018
0,148±0,026
0,029±0,008
—
__
0,050±0.020
A distinct zonality of the propagation of air pollutants was observed.
As the distance from the combine increased, the hydrogen sulfide content de-
creased, but at a distance of 1000 m from the source of discharges, its maxi-
mum single and average concentrations exceeded the permissible level for the
atmospheric air of populated areas.
- 81 -
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In the atmospheric air of the residential zone (2000 m from the plant
complex), the average hydrogen sulfide content was 4.6 times the maximum
permissible concentration; the maximum single values reached 0.209-0.290
mg/m^ at high wind velocities (9.6-12.4 m/sec) of western and southwestern
directions. At distances of 3000 and 5000 m from the plant complex, the
amount of hydrogen sulfide did not exceed the permissible level. No hydro-
gen sulfide was observed in atmospheric air at a distance of 7000 m.
The average and maximum single concentrations of hydrogen sulfide in
atmospheric air at distances exceeding 700 m were below the permissible level.
Kerosene vapor+was observed in the range of 100-250 m in amounts of 0.87 -
0.23 and 0.79 - 0.25 mg/m. Both concentrations in atmospheric air, found
at various distances from the plant complex, exceeded the maximum permissible
value by a factor of 1.5-7.5.
Consequently, the existing 2000 m gap between the complex and the resi-
dential zone must be considered insufficient for discharging gases into the
atmosphere without purification.
The spreading of atmospheric pollutants including hydrogen sulfide at
distances of 2000-4000 m from industrial facilities was pointed out by E. S.
Turetskaya (1947, 1959), D. N. Kalyuzhnyy, L. M. Volova, E. S. Turetskaya
(1948), N. Ya. Yanysheva (1955), R. A. Loginova (1957), K. K. Kiyamov (1960),
D. N. Kalyuzhnyy, and I. S. Kireyeva (1964). For this reason, it appeared
necessary to study the possible influence of atmospheric pollutants on the
population.
The social-economic and medical-geographic conditions at two populated
points of the zone of the plant complex and at a populated point located at
a distance of 7000 m from the complex were identical and, since no hydrogen
sulfide was observed in the air of this zone, this air was taken as the con-
trol.
The questioning of 1500 adults (one in every apartment) was carried out
in accordance with a specially prepared inquiry based on a questionaire sup-
plied by the Kiev Institute of General and Communal Hygiene. The age and
sex composition of the population questioned was approximately the same at
the points compared (men 48.8-57.2%, women 42.8-51.2%; age 21-40 years).
The residence time was 4.7 years. The persons questioned in the zone of
the complex periodically smell hydrogen sulfide to a greater (69.2-76.8%)
or lesser (23.2-30.6%) degree, which is much more frequent than at the
control point (1.0 and 56.0%). It is frequently impossible to aerate the
apartments in the zone of the complex because of the strong hydrogen sul-
fide odor (70-79% of those questioned in the zone of the plant complex and
1.8% at the control point). The population in the zone of the complex com-
plained of headache, dizziness, and rapid fatigue 4.1-4.7 times more fre.-
quently than at the control point. Burning eyes and an unpleasant taste
- 82 -
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In the mouth were noted 13.1-28.8 times more frequently in the zone of the
complex than outside it. Complaints of frequent colds were voiced by 7 and
5% of persons living near the plant complex, and by 1.8% at the control point.
A statistical treatment of the disease rate (5726 outpatient clinic
registration cards) revealed a higher level of incidence of conjunctivitis,
diseases of the respiratory tract and ear, nose, and throat diseases in
children living in the zone of the plant complex. An anthropometric survey
of random groups of practically healthy children of younger school age
established a fully satisfactory physical development of children in the
zone of the complex and in the control point: the indices of growth, weight,
and vital capacity of the lungs corresponded to contemporary age standards
(statistical annual "National Economy of the USSR in 1960"). In a selective
investigation of the changes in the x-ray picture of the lungs* (changes in
the roots of the lungs in the presence of indurated or. petrified lymph nodes)
and in the morphological picture of the blood (moderate erythropenia, low
hemoglobin level, slight leucopenia, monocytosis) of children living in the
zone of the plant complex were recorded more frequently than at the control
point.
Statistics of the disease rate of the adult population not employed
by such an enterprise (9832 clinic registration cards) revealed a higher
disease rate among inhabitants of the zone of the complex, involving con-
junctivitis, ears, nose and throat diseases, and diseases of the nervous
system. Changes in the x-ray picture of the lungs (reinforcement of the
lung pattern, increased density of the lungs, and dilation of the roots of
the lungs) and in the morphological composition of the blood (moderate ery-
thropenia, somewhat decreased hemoglobin level, slight leucopenia as a re-
sult of neutropenia with relative monocytosis, lymphocytes is) in the popula-
tion of the zone of the plant complex were found more frequently than at the
control point.
The observed differences in the state of health of the population in the
zone of the complex and at the control point apparently should be attributed
to a decrease of the resistance of the body under polluted air conditions.
Our data on the influence of discharges of the chemical-mining plant on the
sanitary living conditions and health of the population are in agreement
with the data of R. A. Babayants (1949), N. M. Tomson (1952), D. N. Kalyuzhnyy
(1954, 1961), M. S. Gol'dberg (1957), Z. Ya. Lindberg (1960), M. L. Krasovitskaya
(1965), H. L. Motley, R. H. Smart, C. I. Leftwich (1959), Vaclav Picko (1962),
and J. R. Goldsmith (1964), who showed the undesirable effects of atmospheric
pollutants on the population.
Under natural conditions, it is difficult to evaluate the isolated effect
of any given factor on the population. It was therefore of interest to make
an experimental microtoxicological study of the effect of hydrogen sulfide and
sulfur dioxide thrown into the atmosphere with the discharges of the complex
*The x-ray study was made by radiologist V. V. Danileychenko.
- 83 -
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(continuous inhalation effect in the course of 45 days). The studies were
made on 112 male rats.
The hydrogen sulfide - sulfur dioxide complex in a concentration of
0.0085 - 0.00012 and 0.570 - 0.180 mg/m3 respectively was found to have an
influence on the body. Changes in conditioned reflex activity were ob-
served in the animals (lengthening of the period of formation and fixation
of positive conditioned reflexes to stimulants of various intensities, in-
crease of latent periods of conditioned reactions, frequency of phase states),
40% decrease in the activity of blood cholinesterase, 41% decrease in
phagocytic capacity and change in the luminescent properties of leucocytes,
39.8% decrease in the number of sulfhydryl groups in the blood, increase in
the amount of fat and decrease in the amount of glycogen in the liver. Lower
concentrations of the hydrogen sulfide - sulfur dioxide complex had no effect
on the bodies of experimental animals.
Consequently, on the basis of the above experimental data, it may be
stated that the joint presence of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide in the
atmosphere in the concentrations studied is not permissible from a hygienic
point of view.
On the basis of a comprehensive evaluation of the results of natural
and experimental studies, it was concluded that hydrogen sulfide must be re-
moved from discharges of the plant complex into the atmosphere. A gas puri-
fication shop was built during the fourth quarter of 1966 and set in opera-
tion in the second quarter of 1967. The effectiveness of operation of the
gas purification equipment is being studied.
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BIOLOGICAL EFFECT OF SULFUR DIOXIDE AND PHENOL IN COMBINATION ON THE
HUMAN AND ANIMAL ORGANISM UNDER EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS
A. P. Makhinya
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Erismana. "Voprosy gigieny atmosfernogo vozkukha i
planirovki naselennykh mest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 57-61, (1968).
According to literature data, the toxic effect of sulfur dioxide and
phenol has been studied mainly in high concentrations (N. V. Lazarev, I. V.
Sidorenkov, L. S. Rozanov, Z. E. Grigor'yev, Greenwald, W. B. Deichmann, K.
F. Kitzmiller, Weitherup, etc.).
The biological effect of low concentrations of sulfur dioxide and phenol
was first studied by F. I. Dubrovskaya (1957), B. Mukhitov (1963), and K. A.
Bushtuyeva (1964).
Our objective was to study the biological effect of these substances in
combination.
The determination of the odor threshold was made by using a procedure
recommended by the Committee on Protection of Atmospheric Air (V. A. Ryazanov,
K. A. Bushtuyeva, and Yu. V. Novikov, 1957).
The odor threshold for sulfur dioxide was determined on 19 subjects.
Tests of sulfur dioxide were carried out in concentrations ranging from
3.2 to 0,22 mg/m3. Data on the determination of the odor perception thres-
hold of sulfur dioxide showed that ten persons out of nineteen perceived the
odor of sulfur dioxide in a concentration of 0.88-0.87 mg/m3, which is below
the odor threshold determined by F. I. Dubrovskaya (1957) and K. A. Bushtuyeva
(1964).
The odor perception threshold of phenol was determined for the same 19
subjects. A concentration of 0.022 mg/nr' was found to be the minimum per-
ceptible value, and 0.016 mg/nr was the maximum imperceptibel value, i.e.,
our data confirmed the results obtained by B. M. Mukhitov (1963).
The odor threshold in the combined presence of sulfur dioxide and phenol
was then determined on the same 19 subjects. The perception threshold of
sulfur dioxide and phenol (in combination) for the most sensitive persons
(5 out of 19) was 0.44 mg/m3 for sulfur dioxide and 0.011 mg/nr for phenol,
in two subjects 0.33 mg/m3 (sulfur dioxide) and 0.011 mg/m3 (phenol), while
a sulfur dioxide concentration of 0.22 mg/m3 and phenol concentration of
0.005 mg/m3 were found to be imperceptible for them.
- 85 -
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Adaptometric observations were made on three subjects. Three combina-
tions of the substances studied were investigated. In all the subjects, the
sulfur dioxide and phenol concentrations, equal to 0.88-0.22 mg/nr* and 0.44-
0.011 mg/nP respectively, caused a statistically significant change in light
sensitivity, whereas concentrations of 0.22 mg/m^ of sulfur dioxide and 0.005
mg/nr of phenol proved to be inactive when treated statistically.
Encephalographic studies were carried out on four subjects by using the
procedure of A. D. Semenenko (1963). The potentials of the cerebral cortex
were taken off by the bipolar method and recorded with a four-channel ink-
recording encephalograph of domestic manufacture. The treatment of data in-
cluded values of the total activity of the potentials of the cortex in re-
sponse to synchronous stimulation with sound and light lasting from 6 to 20
seconds. A total of 82 electro-encephalograms were recorded. Concentrations
taken in the ratio of 0.44 mg/rn^ of sulfur dioxide to 0.011 mg/nr of phenol
caused a statistically significant change in the electric activity of the
cortex in all four subjects. A concentration ratio of 0.22 mg/rn^ of sulfur
dioxide to 0.005 mg/nr of phenol was found to be inactive.
Considering that in our studies the threshold odor concentrations for
the most sensitive persons coincided with those established earlier for phenol
only, and that we did not determine the isolated action of sulfur dioxide
and phenol by means of adaptometry and encephalography, the effect of com-
bined action of the substances studied was determined from the odor thres-
hold as the most sensitive test. Calculation showed that the effect is
close to a simple summation
0-33 suifUr dioxide + °-022 phenol - 0.87.
0.87 0.011
In order to refine the inactive concentrations of sulfur dioxide and
phenol (in combination), the subthreshold concentrations were studied (0.22
mg/m of sulfur dioxide and 0.005 mg/nr of phenol), whose fractions of
their highest single maximum permissible concentrations add up to less than
unity. As shown by all the methods used, these ratios did not cause any
statistically significant changes in the physiological reactions of the or-
ganism. For this reason, the highest single maximum permissible concentra-
tions of sulfur dioxide jointly present with phenol which are recommended
are such concentration ratios of these substances for which the sum of the
fractions of their highest single maximum permissible levels does not ex-
ceed unity.
In order to bring out the minimum functional shifts in the organism
of animals as a result of a prolonged action of combinations of sulfur
dioxide and phenol, a three-month round-the-clock dynamic exposure of white
rats was carried out. Sixty females were selected for the exposure and
divided into four equal groups.
- 86 -
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The rats of the first group were exposed to 1.43 - 0.2012 mg/m3 of sulfur
dioxide and 0.49 - 0.00488 mg/m3 of phenol, those of the second group to 0.45 -
0.011168 mg/m3 of sulfur dioxide and 0.0493 - 0.00112 mg/m3 of phenol, and
those of the third group to 0.046 - 0.000928 mg/m3 of sulfur dioxide and 0.0051
- 0.000058 mg/m3 of phenol; the fourth group was the control.
The completion of exposure was followed by a recovery period. All the data
were processed statistically by the range method.
During the entire period of exposure, no changes were observed in the
general state or behavior of the animals. The rats were equally active in
all the chambers, ate well, and gained weight regularly. No significant
weight changes were observed in any of the animals as compared with the con-
trol.
In order to evaluate the chronic effect of sulfur dioxide and phenol con-
centrations (in combination), we studied the coproporphyrin metabolism (M. I.
Gusev and Yu. K. Smirnov, 1960).
Results of the studies showed that shifts were produced in rats of groups
I and II in the direction of a decrease in the excretion of coproporphyrin
with the urine on the 20th day of exposure. After ten days of the recovery
period, the porphyrin metabolism of rats of these groups returned to normal.
In rats of groups III-IV, no appreciable change was observed in the porphyrin
metabolism.
A study of cholinesterase activity showed that in rats of groups I-II as
compared with the control, a depression of the activity of this enzyme was
observed, indicating an impairment of the compensatory functions of the or-
ganism.
Examination of a series of hematological indicators revealed a statis-
tically significant increase in leucocytes with orange fluorescence.* As a
result of the toxic effect of sulfur dioxide and phenol on the physicochemi-
cal exchange of leucocyte cells, an orange fluorescence of the leucocytes
was observed in rats of groups I-II. A particularly noticeable increase in
the number of cells with altered fluorescence was observed during the first
period of exposure. No changes could be found in the other blood indicators
(resistance of erythrocytes, hemoglobin). Nucleic acids also failed to show
any significant shifts.
One of the sensitive tests was found to be the latent reflex time in-
dicator. The latent time was measured with S. I. Gorshkov's reflexogeno-
meter (1963). During the period of exposure, the tests were conducted once
every ten days. The latent reflex time was determined from the speed with
*Editor's note: For the' Russian terms "luminescent" and "luminescence" in this paper we have sub-
stituted "fluorescent" and "fluorescence" on the basis of the definitions of these terms.
- 87 -
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which the motor response occurred. As a result of the toxic action of the
substances studied in animals of chambers I and II, a shortening of the la-
tent reflex time was observed, indicating a predominance of stimulation pro-
cesses in the central nervous system.
Pathologico-anatomic autopsies followed by microscopic examinations of
the internal organs and central nervous system of rats in group I showed
slight indications of interstitial pneumonia, degenerative changes in the
kidneys, and a decrease in the glycogen function of the liver. Primary ir-
ritations of the large neurons of the cortex and brain stem were observed
in the central nervous system. In rats of group II, these changes were vari-
able and slight. No changes could be detected in rats of groups III and IV.
Thus, the results of the chronic experiment make it possible to recom-
mend the following concentrations of the substances studied in combination:
sulfur dioxide 0.05 mg/nr* and phenol 0.005 mg/nr, which gave no statisti-
cally significant shifts in any of the tests.
However, considering that the combined effect of sulfur dioxide and
phenol is close to a simple summation, the mean daily maximum permissible
concentrations which can be recommended are any combinations of these sub-
stances which, when divided by the mean daily maximum permissible concen-
trations for isolated action, add up to not more than unity.
Data of the completed experimental studies aimed at a sanitary substan-
tiation of the highest single and mean daily maximum permissible concentra-
tions for sulfur dioxide and phenol (in combination) have been approved and
endorsed by the section on sanitary protection of atmospheric air of the
Problem Commission of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR in con-
nection with the related problem of the "Biological Effect and Sanitary
Importance of Environmental Factors in Populated Areas", and were conveyed
to the Ministry of Public Health of the USSR for ratification as legal
standards.
Conclusions
1. The threshold of olfactory perception of sulfur dioxide for the most
sensitive persons is 0.87 mg/nr*, and for phenol, 0.022 mg/m^. For combined
action, it is 0.33 mg/nr for sulfur dioxide and 0.011 mg/rn^ for phenol. The
threshold of action on the light sensitivity of the dark-adapted eye and elec-
tric activity of the brain was the following ratio: 0.44 mg/nr* of sulfur
dioxide to 0.011 rng/m^ of phenol. These two tests showed the following con-
centrations to be inactive: 0.22 mg/mr for sulfur dioxide to 0.005 mg/m f6r
phenol. The combined effect of this interaction is close to a simple summa-
tion.
2. When sulfur dioxide and phenol are jointly present in atmospheric air,
- 88 -
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their total highest single concentration expressed in fractions of the maxi-
mum permissible value for each of them in isolated action should not exceed
unity.
3. A study of the resorptive effect of low concentrations of sulfur
dioxide in combination with phenol on the organism of white rats under con-
ditions of a three-month round-the-clock inhalational exposure showed that
concentrations of 1.5 and 0.5 mg/nr1 of sulfur dioxide present together with
0.5 and 0.05 mg/nr of phenol respectively cause statistically significant
shifts in the direction of a decrease in the excretion of coproporphyrin
with the urine, depression of cholinesterase activity, increase in the num-
ber of leucocytes with altered cell fluorescence, shortening of the latent
reflex time, and also pathomorphologic changes in the lungs, heart, liver,
kidneys, and brain. Concentrations of 0.05 mg/nr of sulfur dioxide and
0.005 mg/nr of phenol proved to be inactive.
4. The mean daily maximum permissible concentration of sulfur dioxide
and phenol jointly present in atmospheric air, expressed in fractions of
mean daily maximum permissible concentrations for isolated action, whould
not exceed unity.
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EFFECT OF LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF Ct-METHYLSTYRENE VAPOR
ON THE HUMAN ORGANISM
A. A. Minayev
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Tssledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Erismana. "Voprosy gigieny atmosfernogo vozdukha i
planirovki naselennykh mest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 42-49, (1968).
The resolutions of the 13th congress and the Program of the CPSU adopted
by it stated the objective of creating the material and technological base of
Communism.
The development of the chemical industry assumes an exceptional importance
in the fulfilment of this objective, since the use of chemical products and
synthetic materials will permit radical qualitative changes in key areas of
production of consumer goods.
The growth of the production output of synthetic rubber at the end of
1965 had increased 3.4 fold over the year 1957, and the synthetic rubber
industry will be completely converted from the use of the feed stock employed
earlier to economically more advantageous raw materials: petroleum, natural
gas, and associated gases of petroleum production and refining (Plenum of the
Central Committee of the CPSU, May 1958).
A rapid development of the chemical industry will unquestionably result
in the contamination of the environment with a large quantity of various sub-
stances posing danger to man.
For this reason, the object of sanitary science and in particular atmos-
pheric hygiene is the establishment of recommendations for maximum permissible
concentrations of these substances, for the purpose of preventing their harm-
ful effect on man and his environment.
In 1962, we carried out a study of atmospheric pollution around a new
plant producing divinyl-methylstyrene synthetic rubber from associated gases
of petroleum production and refining as the raw materials.
A total of 323 air samples to be analyzed for a-methylstyrene and 270 air
samples for unsaturated hydrocarbons were collected.
The air samples were taken at a height of 1.5 m above ground at the plant
site and in eight zones at distances from 500 to 5000 m on the leeward side
of the plant.
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During the collection of air samples, the odor of gases was clearly
perceived in zones up to 1500 m, and on some days even up to 2000 m from
the plant.
The results obtained (Table 1) showed that the heaviest pollution of
atmospheric air with a-methylstyrene vapors and unsaturated hydrocarbons
was observed at the plant site.
Table 1
Pollution of Atmospheric Air Around the Synthetic Rubber Plant
Distance
From
Plant, m
Territory
of Syn-
thetic
rubber pi
500
750
1000
ir.00
2000
3000
4000
5000
(X -Methylstyrene in ml/m^
Concentration (Most Frequent
Fluctuations ' Values
i
O.OSO-3,700
1 ,389*
int
O.O^S-O.ROO
0,336
0,000-0,700
0.207
0,000-0,130
0,060
0,000-0,260
O.OCO
0,000-0.160
0,034
0,000-0,106
0,031
0,000-0.010
0,004
0
0. -100 -3,200
OOAA (\ .TIQ
01 AH f\ JflA
0,0-10 -0.120
0,026-0.120
0,016-0,100
0,030 -0,080
0,020-0,026
0
Unsaturated Hydrocarbons, mg/m^
Concentration
Fluctuations
0.000—13,600
7,725
0,000-4,700
1,054
0,000-6. C50
1,681
0,000-5, .560
O.V59
0,000-11.700
2.019
C.OOO-9.SCO
1,160
0,000— 3. SOO
0,561
0
0
Most Frequent
Values
3CAA 1 l *f\{\
1,100-2,800
Otytr. n ~t)n
0.095-2,300
1 rrf)0 0 SfiO
OftQri 7 QflO
O.C9.">_2,80(l
0
0
* The denominator is the average of highest single values.
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Unsaturated hydrocarbons pollute atmospheric air in the zone up to
3000 meters, and a-methylstyrene vapors, up to 4000 meters. At a distance
of 5000 m from the plant site, no atmospheric pollution with gaseous dis-
charges was observed.*
Thus, the studies showed that one of the principal toxic agents which
is most extensively dispersed around the synthetic rubber plant is oc-methyl-
styrene.
a-Methylstyrene (isopropylbenzene; 1-methyl, 1-phenylethylene; 2-phenyl-
propylene; 3-phenylpropylene) is a homolog of benzene with one unsaturated
bond in the side chain. It belongs to a class of isocyclic compounds with
a closed ring chain of carbon atoms; its chemical formula is CgH.,., and its
molecular weight, 118.18;
— C=CH,
Structural Formula of a-methylstyrene
The specific gravity is 0.914, the boiling point 162-163°C. , and the freezing
point, -31°C. ; it is an almost colorless, slightly yellowish liquid with a
characteristic odor of naphthalene, practically insoluble in water.
The vapor of a-methylstyrene mixed with air forms explosive mixtures.
The upper explosive limit is 6.1% by volume, and the lower limit, 1.1% by
volume.
a-Methylstyrene is used in the production of synthetic rubber, styrylated
alkyd resins and styrylated drying oils, and is obtained by dehydrogenation
(catalytic and thermal) of isopropylbenzene.
a-Methylstyrene belongs to a group of compounds possessing narcotic and
irritant properties in high concentrations.
The principal route by which a-methylstyrene enters the human organism
is inhalation.
The toxic effect of a-methylstyrene has been studied by a number of
Soviet and foreign authors in both acute and chronic experiments.
In the present paper, we shall indicate only the results of studies of
those authors who investigated the effect of a-methylstyrene during a short-
term action on the organism of man and animals.
* aJflethylstyrene was determined by the method of M. V. Alekseyeva and N. A. Krylova (1962), and
unsaturated hydrocarbons by the method of V. A. Morozov (1955).
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Thus, according to G. A. Ogleznev's data (1964) treated by Burns'
method, the average effective dose for gastric administration (DLsn) was
5.0 ± 0.2 g/kg for mice and 10.25 ± 0.6 g/kg for rats.
Itv acute poisoning, there is a predominance of symptoms of a pronounced,
progressive depression of the central nervous system. The mice died on the
first day, and the rats on the second or third day.
According to the data of N. V. Lazarev (1963), a concentration of
a-methylstyrene vapor of 10-15 mg/1 after a two-hour inhalational exposure
caused only sluggishness in white mice, but, as was indicated by Wolf et al.
(M. A. Wolf, 1956), these same concentrations of a-methylstyrene vapor after
a 7-8 hour inhalation per day caused the death of all the animals on the
fourth day of exposure. • .
The threshold of the reflex effect of a-methylstyrene vapor on the
central nervous system of rabbits causing a change in the duration of the
flexing reflex and in the rate of development of the reflex muscular tension
after a 40-minute exposure is 0.06-1.0 mg/1, according to the data of
M. L. Rylova (1955). The threshold of the reflex action of a-methylstyrene
vapor on the central nervous system of the cat, determined by the conditioned
reflex method after a 30-minute exposure, is equal to 0.04 mg/1 (A. I. Korbakova,
1961).
According to M. L. Rylova's determination (1955) , the threshold of odor
perception of a-methylstyrene vapor and the threshold of its irritant action
on people is 0.02 mg/1. It should be noted, however, that M. L. Rylova in
her investigations obtained a-methylstyrene concentrations by calculation,
and the subjects inhaled the gaseous mixture from the chamber by means of a
gas mask.
Cases of acute poisoning with a-methylstyrene vapor in industry have
not been reported in the literature available to us.
In our studies of the influence of low concentrations of a-methylstyrene
vapors on the human organism, we used the dynamic method of supply of the
substance studied, as described by V. A. Ryazanov, K. A. Bushtuyeva, and
Yu. V. Novikov (1957).
The selected concentrations of a-methylstyrene vapor were determined
by a spectrophotometric method developed by M. V. Alekseyeva, N. A. Krylova,
and V. A. Khrustaleva (1963).
The threshold of odor perception of a-methylstyrene vapor was determined
on 19 subjects aged 17 to 38 years. Eight different concentrations of a-methyl-
styrene vapor were tested, and 493 observations were made.
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The threshold of odor perception of a-methylstyrene vapor in the persons
studied ranged from 0.1 to 0.6 mg/m3. For the most sensitive persons, the
perception threshold was 0.1 mg/m3.
A concentration of 0.08 mg/m3 was found to be the subthreshold value
(Table 2).
Table 2
Threshold of Odor Perception of Ot-Methylstyrene
Vapors in the Subjects
Number
of
Subjects
:j
5
7
4
Concentration of tt-Methylstyrene
Vapor in ng/nP
Minimum Percep-
tible Qot.cen-
trations
0,1
0,2
0,4
0,6
Maximum Impercep-
tible Concen-
trations
0,03
0,10
0,20
0,40
In the determination of the odor perception threshold of a-methylstyrene
vapor, it was found that in concentrations close to the threshold value, the
vapor has a pleasant aroma resemgling that of the bird cherry.
A study of the influence of low concentrations of a-methylstyrene vapor
on the reflex reactions of the organism was made by the method of dark
adaptation of the eye on three subjects having the lowest (0.1 mg/m3) odor
perception threshold of this substance.
Our studies showed that the threshold and above-threshold odor percep-
tion concentrations of a-methylstyrene vapor cause reflex reactions in the
respiratory organs while at the same time changing the light sensitivity of
the eye.
These changes in subjects P. G. and M. A. were expressed in a decrease
of the light sensitivity of the eye in the 20th minute. In subject G. N.
during the same time interval, an increase in light sensitivity was observed
which was replaced by an abrupt decrease in the 25th minute.
Statistical treatment of the results showed these changes in light
sensitivity to be significant.
a-Methylstyrene vapor in the subthreshold odor perception concentration
(0.08 mg/m3) caused no changes in the light sensitivity of the eye.
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Our results as well as those of other authors show that there are a
number of substances which in subthreshold odor perception concentrations
have no effect on the functional state of the visual analyzer as deter-
mined by the dark adaptation method (K. A. Bushtuyeva, 1957, 1961;
M. T. Takhirov, I960; N. F. Izmerov, 1961; A. V. Mnatsakayan, 1961;
V. P. Melekhina, 1962).
As was shown by K. A. Bushtuyeva, Ye. F. Polezhayeva, and A. D. Semenenko
(1960), the method of electroencephalographic study of the effect of low con-
centrations of atmospheric pollutants on the human organism permits a direct
determination of the effect of chemical stimuli on the cerebral cortex.
Subsequent studies by V. A. Gofmekler (1960), 0. I. Solomin (1961),
B. Mukhitov (1963), and other authors confirmed the conclusions reached by
Bushtuyeva et al. concerning the high sensitivity of electroencephalographic
tests in the study of the effect of atmospheric pollutants on man.
Therefore, the next stage of our work was to investigate the effect of
low concentrations of a-raethylstyrene vapor on the bioelectric activity of
the human cerebral cortex with the aid of quantitative analysis of the total
bioelectric activity of the cerebral cortex developed by A. D. Semenenko
(1964). The tests were conducted on four subjects whose threshold of odor
perception of a-methylstyrene vapors was 0.1 mg/m^.*
Our analysis of the electroencephalograms involved the use of the total
bioelectric activity of the human cerebral cortex in the course of rhythmic
photic stimulation.
The subjects developed conditioned motor reflexes to a photic stimulus
supplied in the form of intermittent light with a flicker frequency close
to the frequency of the subjects' a-rhythm.
The tests were conducted in the same time periods. A session lasting
21 minutes consisted of 18 cycles.
Each cycle included: a sound stimulus (7-8 sec), a waiting period
(8-9 sec), a light stimulus 35 sec), and muscular limbering up (20 sec).
Thus, all our observations were made with the same background. The
higher nervous activity during the experiment was occupied each time with
the same reaction, with a maximum elimination of possible manifestation of
extraneous psychic processes not related to the experimental conditions.
During the study, the subject sat in a comfortable chair in an insulated,
soundproof, dimly lit room.
* The study was made at the Institute of General and Communal Hygiene of the Academy of Medical
Sciences of the USSR im. A. N. Sysin under the direction of A. D. Semenenko.
- 95 -
-------
Pure air or a gaseous mixture (depending on the experimental conditions)
was supplied to a smelling cylinder placed before the subject's face at a
rate of 35 1/min.
The biopotentials of the cerebral cortex were taken off by the bipolar
method from four regions: right temporal and occipital (TJ°H^ » l6^ temporal
and occipital (T_0S) , left temporal and right frontal (TgFj) ; and right
temporal and left frontal (T^FS) , and were recorded with a 16-channel "Galileo1'
electroencephalograph.
The quantitative analysis of the average biocurrent voltage of the cerebral
cortex was carried out with a multichannel integrator designed by B. N. Balashov
(1964).
After the training periods, during which the subjects became accustomed
to the conditions of the experiment and began to give relatively stable read-
ings of the electric activity of the cerebral cortex, we began our investiga-
tions .
In the course of 24 hours, only one session of observations with pure
air or a given concentration of a-methylstyrene vapor was conducted.
On the day of the study, when the effect of a-methylstyrene on the
bioelectric activity of the cerebral cortex was investigated, the first three
cycles corresponded to pure air, and in the fourth cycle, before the presen-
tation of the photic stimulus, the gaseous mixture was supplied to the smell-
ing cylinder until the end of the sound stimulus of the next (fifth) cycle.
Then, after air was supplied in the sixth cycle, the gaseous mixture was
admitted again, and so on until the 15th cycle inclusive. In the last three
cycles, only pure air was supplied to the smelling cylinder.
We took a total of 80 electroencephalograms and studied the influence on
the bioelectric activity of the cerebral cortex of three a-methylstyrene
concentrations: 0.10, 0.06, and 0.04 mg/m3.
It was found that a-methylstyrene vapor in concentrations of 0.10 and
0.06 mg/m^ affects the bioelectric activity of the cerebral cortex.
In subjects Ye. M. and I. A., a-methylstyrene vapor in concentrations of
0.10 and 0.06 mg/m3 caused a decrease in the energy of the a-rhythm, whereas
an increase was observed in subjects N. G. and G. N.
Statistical treatment of the data obtained showed that changes in the
electric activity of the cerebral cortex caused by the action of a-methyl-
styrene vapor in the indicated concentrations are significant.
A concentration of a-methylstyrene vapor of 0.04 mg/m was found to be
inactive for all the subjects.
- 96 -
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Thus, our outdoor and experimental studies lead to the following
conclusions:
1. The threshold of olfactory perception of a-methylstyrene vapor and
of its reflex effect on the light sensitivity of the eye for the most sensi-
tive persons is 0.1 mg/m3.
2. The threshold of the reflex effect of a-methylstyrene vapor on
the bioelectric activity of the human cerebral cortex is 0.06 mg/m3, and a
concentration of 0.04 mg/m3 was found to be inactive in this method of
investigation.
3. The concentration of 0.04 mg/m3, which did not cause any subjective
sensations or reflex reactions in the human organism, can be recommended
as the highest single maximum permissible concentration of a-methylstyrene
vapor for atmospheric air in populated areas.
4. The investigated synthetic rubber plant is a source of atmospheric
pollution with a-methylstyrene vapor in the zone up to 3000 m, where the
highest single concentrations reach 0.106 mg/m3; this substantially exceeds
the maximum inactive concentration which we established.
LITERATURE CITED
1. A.ICKCCCII a M. B., K p u .1 o B a II. A.. Xpycra.iena B. A.
CnilKTpo(|)on)MCT|ni|n.\'KOc oupc.'ic.iriii'.c 6eiuo.ia. luioiipoini.iOciiso.ia n •> —
MeTii.icinpo.ia ii no3;iy\r. runifiia n caiiiiiapiiu. 1963. .V> 1. 31—36.
2. B yin T y i-n a K. A.. Hojc/Kaen E. *., C e M e 11 c it K o A. fl.,
Ilayicinic noporoii pwJi.ioKTOpuoro /iciicTBiin atMoccpcpnwx aarpnaiieHiiii Me-
TO.IOM ••*.icio"pO''>iiiifi|>ii|i. riinii'iiH u vaiiiiTapiiu, 1900, .V? 1, 57—60.
3. Ko p 6 a K o n a A. II., HavuMotiHinie TOKIMIUIIOCTII r—Mcin.icTiipo.ia.
HiinriiTyi riinii'iiu ?p\ ia n npocJKxciiona.-ii.iiux 3a6o.ioi»amifi. OTMCT o pa6o-
ic .ia 1961 i-.. 18S 213.
4. M ii a u a K a n n n A. B., SKCUOPIINHMIIa. 11,111.10 MaTCpna.iH K ycTaiiou.ie-
111110 npo.uvn.ri> .loiivvTMMoii Koiiiiriiip:iiiM>i .\.i.ipiMiprna n :IT.MOCI|>OPIIO.\I BOJ.IV-
xr. ripc.ii1.-IMIO .-IOHU-TIIMI.IC Koi'iK-inpaniMi .irMoci|>cpMN.v :inrpH3iiciiiiM >\.,
19G1, iti.ni. 5. 11(1-I IT.
5. Or .11-3 iiou F. A.. 3KciK-pii\ii-!iia.ii.n:K- ooociumaiiiio aonycTitv.ofi
Konncirrpaiiiin a.ii>(|>«iMCTii.n>Tii|>o.-ia n no.ic BO.IOCMOH. Fnnieiia n caiuiTapira,
1961. 4. 2-1 - 29.
6. P )i 3 a ii o n B. A., OI-IUIHIII.IC iipiiiiiuini.i rtiniciui'iocKoro nopMiipoiia-
MUM aTMoci|>i%pi!M\ aarpji.i'ii'iinii. I'lHiu-na u ciiiiiiriipiin. 1919. 5. 3—9.
7. C c M c n c n K o A. .'I.. ripiiMoiK'iiiio i|>yiiKuiiona.ibiioi"i 3.ioKTpo3iiuetja<|mn npii iiayioiiini .-u-ncriniH atMOi-ipopiinv aarpioiicuiifi 11.1 opraiiusM 10-
.iniu-Ka. rtinii'iia n oaiiMiapuii. Hlii.'i, ffi 7. 49 55.
8. CoMi'iioiiKo A. 71.. Ii a .1 a in o it Ii. TI.. Mi-TO'iiiKa KO.'H!'U\-II:OHII.>-
ni aiia.in.ia iioaM'.nii IH-IIMIIIKM ii.-ii.(ji:i piiTM;i MO:II':I «i«Vh>r.CK:i npii ;ioi"mT.ini
aiMocilu-piihiv :tarpii3iuiiiiiii. .Maropna.-iM ic'o!ii|H-pciiiuni ii-> IIIOHIM iiay'iiiux
IICC.IC.VHIJIIMIM '.'I l!'(i;! i. IS -10 Ma-i UHil r. liiicriiryi o6iuoii KOMMJIIJI.II.-
iiufi niiin-iii.i A\\ll CCA.I' MM. A. II. llMCiina. 31 35.
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SANITARY EVALUATION OF VALERIC ACID AS AN ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTANT
F. I. Dubrovskaya and M. Kh. Khachaturyan
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Erismana. "Voprosy gigieny atmosfemogo vozdukha i
planirovki naselennykh mest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 10-15, (1968).
The development of production of synthetic fatty acids and their extensive
use in various branches of the national economy calls for a sanitary evaluation
of these indices as sources of atmospheric pollution. The chief source of
atmospheric pollution in the production of fatty acids are the oxidizing towers.
Tentative snalyses of the air escaping from the oxidizing towers have shown
that fatty acids predominate in these discharges. In addition to fatty acids,
the composition of industrial discharges includes hydrocarbons, ketones, syn-
thetic alcohols, aldehydes, etc. Studies conducted by the F. F. Erisman Insti-
tute on the atmospheric air around plants producing fat substitutes show a
steady pollution of this air with synthetic fatty acids. The content of syn-
thetic fatty acids in atmospheric air at various distances from a fat-substituent
plant is shown in Table 1.
Table 1
Fatty Acid Content in Atmospheric Air Around Fat-Substituent
Plants (in ng/m?)
Maximum Concentrations
Distance From
Source, km
o.n
1,0
3.0
r>.o
Shebekino
Chemical
Complex
0,48
o,r,o
0.7(5
0.00
Volgodonsk
Chemical
Complex
0.9
l.">
0.2
0,3
Berdyansk
. Plant '
0.9
1,3
o.r.:!
O.OG
Among the synthetic fatty acids present in industrial discharges, those
of greatest interest are the most volatile fatty acids (C-^-Cg) . The end pro-
ducts of this industry are fatty acids, from valeric to arachidic acid.
After analyzing this group of acids, we found that the most volatile is
valeric acid, which we chose as the object of our study.
Valeric acid (C^H^O^) is an oily liquid with a very unpleasant odor.
Its boiling point is 187°C., melting point -34.5°C., and specific gravity
0.939 at 20°C. (Chemist's Handbook, 1964).
- 98 -
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The purpose of our studies was to substantiate the maximum permissible
concentrations of valeric acid in atmospheric air. To this end, we deter-
mined its threshold of olfactory perception and studied the influence of
low concentrations of the substance on the reflex change of the light sensi-
tivity of the eye and electrical activity of the brain in man.
The threshold of olfactory perception of valeric acid was studied by
using a procedure recommended by the Committee on Sanitary Protection of
Atmospheric Air (V. A. Ryazanov et al., 1957). The observations were made
on 18 persons aged 17 to 46 years. According to our earlier studies, the
threshold of olfactory perception of valeric acid* was 0.5 mg/m3.
Table 2
fhreshold of Olfactory Perception of Valeric Acid
in ig/m5
Number of
Subjects
:>
1
1
2
2
2
')
Concentration
Minimum
Perceptible
I.S
0,1
0.8
0,7
0.-rr
0.1
0,0'J
Maximum
Imperceptible
1,0
0,7
0.7
o,r,
0.1
O.(il)
0,07
We have now refined this threshold of olfactory perception. The studies
showed that the minimum perceptible concentration of valeric acid ranged
from 1.3 to 0.09 mg/m3, this range being 0.1-0.09 mg/m3 in the most sensitive
persons of this group. The odor of valeric acid in a concentration of 0.07
mg/m3 was imperceptible.
Studies of the light sensitivity of the eye were carried out on an ADM
adaptometer on four subjects with a normal visual acuity.
Results of the study showed that valeric acid in concentrations from
0.5 to 20 mg/m3 causes significant changes in the light sensitivity of the
eyes. The action of concentrations from 1.4 to 20 mg/m3 caused changes in
the light sensitivity of the eyes in all the subjects. Valeric acid concen-
trations of 0.5-1.2 mg/m3 caused significant changes in only two subjects.
Concentrations from 0.1 to 0.49 mg/m3 did not cause any changes in the light
Journal Gigiyena i sanitariya (Hygiene and Sanitation), 1961, 12.
- 99 -
-------
sensitivity of the eyes in any of the subjects.
Thus, the threshold of action of valeric acid on the functional state
of the visual analyzer determined by the dark adaptation method is equal
to 0.5 mg/m^.
In the last few years, the electroencephalographic method using
functional loads has been adopted as a sensitive indicator of the functional
state of the central nervous system in sanitary studies. Studies by
Yu. M. Fel'dman, 1960; Li Sheng, 1961; D. G. Odoshashvili, 1962; K. A. Bush-
tuyeva, 1963, and others showed that in many cases the electroencephalographic
method reveals the effect on man of lower concentrations of toxic substances
polluting atmospheric air as compared with those affecting the light sensi-
tivity of the dark-adapted eye.
The study was made by using the method of A. D. Semenenko (1963) , based
on an evaluation of the functional state of the human cerebral cortex with
the aid of varying intensities of light flashing at the frequency of the
intrinsic potentials of the subject's brain. The action of additional affer-
entation taking place when the substance studied is added to air leads to a
change in the functional state of the central nervous system and hence to a
change in the response to light. The author evaluated the shifts taking
place from the change in the total electric activity of the cerebral cortex,
whose numerical characteristic was obtained with an integrator built by the
engineer B. N. Balashov.
Studies were made on three subjects having the lowest threshold of odor
perception of valeric acid. For two persons (T. P. and V. D.) it was 0.09
mg/m^, and for one (G. Ye.), 0.1 mg/m3. The subjects ranged in age from
17 to 28 years.
The electroencephalogram was recorded with a four-channel electroen-
cephalograph of the VNIIMIO (Ail-Union Scientific Research Institute of
Medical Instruments and Equipment). Automatic analysis of the total bio-
electric activity was carried out with a four-channel integrator of B. N. Bala-
shov's system, built by the electrotechnical laboratory of the Erisman Institute.
During the study, the subjects sat in chairs in a soundproof, insulated,
dimly lit room. Air was fed at a rate of 30 1 per minute into a glass cylinder
located in front of the person. The gas mixture under study was supplied at
the same rate. The source of light stimulation was located at a distance of
about 1 meter from the subject's eyes. The intensity of the flashes was
5 x 10~2, 10 x 10~2, and 15 x 10~2 J. The frequency of the flashes was 10 Hz.
The electroencephalogram was taken in bipolar fashion off the temporal regions
of both hemispheres.
- 100 -
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Each study consisted of 12 cycles composed of a given sequence of
stimuli. The cycle started with a sound signal produced by a ZG-10 sound
generator and lasting 7-8 sec. During the action of the sound, its loud-
ness was changed 2-3 times. This was followed by a pause (7-8 sec), during
which the subject assumed a comfortable position, and by light stimulation
for 20 sec. The intensity of the flashes was changed on the 10th and 15th
seconds. In the course of the study, the subject responded to every change
of the light and sound signal by pressing a sensing element with his hand.
The treatment of the data included the total electric activity of
the cerebral cortex during the 6-20 sec of action of light. Relative
values of the bioelectric activity are given below. The average activity
for 1-3 min (1-3 cycles) of the study was taken as 100%. In studies where
the effect of valeric acid was investigated, the necessary gas mixture was
supplied intermittently from the fourth through the ninth minute of the study.
The supply of the mixture of valeric acid vapor and air was started immediately
before the sound stimulation and was discontinued when the light was turned
off.
In order to elucidate the effect of valeric acid vapor, the total elec-
tric activity of the cerebral cortex was compared during the action of
light against a background of breathing of pure air and of the mixture for
the same minutes of the experiment.
Three concentrations of valeric acid vapor were used during the study.
A valeric acid concentration of 0.12 mg/m3 caused an increase in the bio-
electric activity in the two subjects T. P. and V. D., and an increase
followed by a decline in subject G. Ye.
The concentration of valeric vapor was then decreased to 0.07 mg/m .
It was found to be inactive in subject T. P., and in subject G. Ye. there
was only a reinforcement of the electric activity of the cerebral cortex.
The nature of the shifts in subject V. D. remained unclear.
An even lower concentration, equal to 0.034 mg/m3, of valeric acid
vapor did not cause any changes in the bioelectric activity of the cerebral
cortex in any of the subjects.
The figure shows the results of studies made on subject G. Ye. Periods
of the experiment in minutes are plotted along the magnitude of the response
along the ordinate. The investigated mixture was supplied intermittently
from the 4th to the 9th minute of the study. Statistical treatment of the
data obtained was carried out by two methods: the range method, and the
method of comparison of natural pairs of variants (A. I. Venchikov, 1963).
The latter method allows for the presence of bidirectional shifts in the
EEC under the influence of the stimulus. It is therefore more suitable for
this type of studies.
- 101 -
-------
>.it BK/H? _L_
h
•1
II
II
&
T. rl (.«
"^XiP"
C -1 -i iS
T,T,frf)
Wyp.
^hJ-
/W«)
'X^L
JAM!
<->^7*
IrleZr
IT»(«K
*\S^
- » - A a
pure air
—rgas
Fig. 1. Change in the electric activity of the cerebral
cortex in subject G. Ye. under the influence of valeric
acid vapor.
The statistical treatment showed a concentration of 0.07 mg/m^ of
valeric acid to be inactive for subject T. P. and a concentration of 0.034
^ to be inactive for subjects G. Ye. and V. D.
Comparing the content of synthetic fatty acids detected in atmospheric
air (Table 1) with the inactive concentration of valeric acid (0.034 mg/m^) ,
we note that the latter concentration has been exceeded 6 to 44-fold.
The studies lead to the following conclusions:
1. Valeric acid, a representative of volatile fatty acids, is a source
of atmospheric polluants present in discharges from the production of fat
substituents.
2. During the inhalation of air whose composition includes small
centrations of valeric acid, the following biological effects are detected
in the subjects:
a) The threshold of olfactory perception of valeric acid vapor for the
most sensitive persons is 0.09 mg/m ,
b) A study of the reflex effect of valeric acid vapor established that
the light sensitivity of the eye changes at a concentration of 0.5 mg/m^,
concentrations from 0.49 mg/m^ to 0.1 mg/m3 causing no significant changes;
changes in the electrical activity of the cerebral cortex were recorded
during inhalation of a concentration of 0.07 mg/m3. A concentration of 0.034
^ was found to be inactive.
3. On the basis of the above, the highest single maximum permissible
concentration of valeric acid for atmospheric air which can be proposed is
0.03 mg/m3.
- 102 -
-------
LITERATURE CITED
I. ByiiiTycita K. A., rtinicmmecKati onetiKa OKIIC.IOB ccpu KHK
(peptiux 3arpii3iicnnfi. fliiccepTauim, MocKoa, 1963.
2. Bcii'iiiKon A. II.. Ouci(iK. Fiiniciia n caniiTapiiii, -V» 4. I96'2.
4. P n 3 a n o D B. A., B } ui T y e u a K. A., H o B n K o u K). B.. npe.-ic.ii,-
no .lonycTHMbie Koiuieinpaunii aTMOctjJL-piiwx 3arpn3iiciinfi. BfainycK 3, 1957.
5. CcMcaeiiKo A. R.. Bcecoroaiiaii iK. ritnieHa it cainiTapiisi. .No 5, I960.
8. /In IU e n. >K. riimeiia n camiiapiiH, Ki 8, 1961.
- 103 -
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DATA FOR VALIDATING THE MAXIMUM PERMISSIBLE CONCENTRATION OF BUTYRIC ACID
IN ATMOSPHERIC AIR
V. M. Styazhkin and M. Kh. Khachaturyan
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Eristnana. "Voprosy gigieny atmosfernogo vozdukha i
planirovki naselennykh mest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 27-33, (1968).
The substitution of products obtained from petroleum, coal, and gas for
plant and animal raw materials is currently assuming an increasing importance
in the national economy. One of the major chemical industries is the pro-
duction of fat substituents.
The synthesis of fatty acids consists in a controlled catalytic oxida-
tion of hydrocarbons with atmospheric oxygen. The acids are prepared from
petroleum paraffins as the starting materials, potassium permanganate being
used as the catalyst.
In the course of the technological process, a large number of organic
products are formed which may escape into the air of the plant buildings and
thence into the atmosphere.
Among the organic substances polluting the air in the production of fatty
acids, the most significant ones are the fatty acids themselves, whose concen-
tration amounts to an average of 2607 mg/nr in the waste gases after combus-
tion (F. I. Dubrovskaya).
The observed maximum concentrations of fatty acids in the vicinity of
plant complexes producing synthetic fatty acids amounted to 1.24 mg/m at a
distance of 3000 m.
A criterion for the evaluation of the degree of atmospheric pollution by
various ingredients are their maximum permissible concentrations.
Hence, in order to give a sanitary evaluation of the degree of pollution
of atmospheric air by fatty acids, it is necessary to have the maximum per-
missible concentration of total fatty acids.
However, before studying the combined action of fatty acids, it is neces-
sary to examine the influence of the individual acids on the physiological
functions of the organism and their toxicodynamic characteristics.
The object of the present study was to investigate the influence of one
of the fatty acids - butyric acid - on the physiological functions of the or-
ganism and its toxicodynamic aspects in a chronic experiment.
- 104 -
-------
Butyric acid is a colorless liquid with a specific gravity of 0.9577 and
a pungent, unpleasant odor resembling that of some types of cheese. Butyric
acid is a saturated fatty acid (with an unbranched chain).
Butyric acid is present as hexyl ester in the fruits of cow parsnip, as
octyl ester in parsnip, and as the glyceride (in amounts up to 27.) in animal oil.
In the free form, butyric acid is found in rancid oil, muscle juice, per-
spiration, and animal excrements.
Butyric acid is used in the rubber industry, in the decaleination of leath-
er in tanning, and in chromatography. Esters of butyric acid find applications
in perfume manufacture, as the starting materials in the production of cellulose
acetobutyrate, and is used as the starting material in the production of a new
type of plastic - etrol.
The method of determination of monobasic carboxylic acids of the fatty
series is based on the conversion of the fatty acids into methyl esters and
determination of the esters formed with hydroxylamine and ferric chloride. The
color of the solution developed as a result of this reaction is matched with
a scale. The sensitivity of the method is 0.005 mg in the volume analyzed.
The method is nonspecific. Complex esters and anhydrides of organic acids in-
terfere with the determination (Yu. V. Dyuzheva).
Rabbits that inhaled butyric acid in a concentration of 400 mg/m^ for 1.4
hours showed labored breathing and an increasing sluggishness. X-ray and his-
tological examinations revealed congestion, edema, atelectasis and emphysema
of the lungs (S. L. Danishevskiy).
A repeat inhalation of vapors in the amount of 200-300 mg/ra^ by white
rats for 2 hours daily in the course of three month produced a slight ef-
fect (K. P. Stasenkova, T. A. Kochetkova).
In the literature that we searched, no data are given on the influence
of lower butyric acid concentrations on the organism.
In order to study the reflex effect of butyric acid, we investigated the
odor threshold, the change in the light sensitivity of the eye, and the in-
fluence of low concentrations on the electric activity of the cerebral cortex.
The determination of the odor threshold of butyric acid involved the
participation of 17 persons aged 17-35 years. All the subjects were essen-
tially healthy without any pathologic changes of the nasal cavity and with
a normal olfactory acuity. The odor of butyric acid was determined in com-
parison with the inhalation of pure air.
The studies were made with seven concentrations, from 1.0 mg/nr5 to 0.04
mg/m3 butyric acid, and showed that for the most sensitive persons, the
- 105 -
-------
minimum perceptible concentration was 0.06 mg/m-*, while the 0.04 mg/nr con-
centration was the maximum imperceptible value.
The reflex effect of low butyric acid concentrations on the functional
state of the central nervous system was studied by determining the light
sensitivity of the eye under dark adaptation conditions.
The studies were carried out in accordance with a standard procedure.
The observations were made on essentially healthy persons with a normal
vision and sense of smell.
The studies of the light sensitivity of the eyes were conducted on four
subjects with three butyric acid concentrations: 0.08, 0.06 and 0.04 mg/m3.
They showed that for two subjects, the minimum active concentration was
0.06 mg/nr*, which coincided with the odor threshold concentration. The 0.04
mg/m3 concentration was found to be inactive for all four subjects.
At the present time, it is certain that a conditioned reflex connection
can be formed in man between two indifferent stimuli. The bioelectric re-
actions of the cerebral cortex, in particular, to a photic stimulus, are used
by many investigators as unconditioned reflex reactions. The possibility of
developing a conditioned reflex depression of the alpha rhythm to odors, us-
ing continuous light as the unconditioned stimulus, was utilized by K. A.
Bushtuyeva and A. D. Semenenko (1960) for standardizing atmospheric pollu-
tants. However, the lack of a quantitative criterion makes this procedure
largely subjective in dealing with near-threshold intensities of the condi-
tioned stimulus, when it is difficult to differentiate a conditioned reflex
depression of the alpha rhythm from a spontaneous depression.
In view of the high sensitivity of the conditioned reflex method, we
considered it desirable to conduct further research for the purpose of
developing a new conditioned reflex method satisfying the requirements of
sanitary standardization, i. e., to determine the feasibility of a quanti
tative characterization of the phenomenon in question. To this end, at-
tempts were made to develop a conditioned reflex to the odor of butyric acid
in low concentrations, using rhythmic light as the unconditioned stimulus.
An attempt was made to detect the influence of the conditioned stimulus
on the unconditioned stimulus. The presence of an analyzer and an integra-
tor enabled us to judge the shifts observed not only from the total bioelec-
tric activity but also directly from the reaction to the rhythmic stimulus.
The conditioned stimulus was butyric acid in concentrations of 0.06,
0.03, and 0.015 mg/m3.
The unconditioned stimulus was rhythmic light. Each subject was exr
posed to a photic stimulation frequency that he readily assimilated: this
- 106
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frequency was 8 Hz for subject I. V., and 10 Hz for the remaining subjects
V. M. , V. Ye. and M. Kh.
In course of a single study, 10 pairings of the conditioned stimulus
with the unconditioned stimulus were made.
Since we were interested in the influence of the conditioned on the un-
conditioned stimulus, the development of the conditioned reflex was preceded
by a series of studies to determine the magnitude of the unconditioned re-
action and of the reaction to the rhythmic photic stimulus. Only after this
was established did we start the development of the conditioned reflex. This
development was begun with the maximum concentration of butyric acid, 0.06
mg/m3, equal to its odor perception threshold. Bearing in mind that the con-
ditioned reflexes to weak stimuli are very unstable and that in man the devel-
opment of such conditioned reflexes takes place rapidly (K. A. Bushtuyeva
et al.), each concentration, i. e., each intensity of the conditioned stimulus,
was used for 5 days (50 pairings). In order to detect the formation of the
conditioned to the unconditioned stimulus, a statistical treatment was carried
out using the method of comparison of natural pairs of variants.
Combining the weak odor stimulus with the rhythmic photic stimulus we
were able to: 1) develop the conditioned reflex to the odor of butyric acid
in concentrations of 0.06 mg/m3 and 0.03 mg/m3 and 2) detect the influence of
these intensities of the conditioned stimulus on the course of the uncondi-
tioned reflex reaction. These shifts were statistically significant in char-
acter. The presence of conditioned reflex reactions and of the influence of
the conditioned stimulus on the course of the unconditioned reaction was also
noted in the presence of a very weak conditioned stimulus - the odor of
butyric acid in a concentration of 0.015 mg/m . However, these reactions
were unstable in character and were found not to be statistically signifi-
cant after the statistical treatment of the data.
In order to validate the mean daily maximum permissible concentration of
butyric acid in atmospheric air, we performed a chronic round-the-clock (94-
day) exposure of white rats (males) to this acid.
The object of this part of the study was to detect the changes occur-
ring in the organism of the experimental animals during a prolonged exposure
to butyric acid as a function of the concentration by means of biochemical,
physiological and pathomorphological methods of investigation.
Studies were conducted on four groups of rats with 15 rats in each group.
A mixture of air and acid was supplied to 100-liter exposure chambers at a
rate of 30-35 liters per minute.
The butyric acid content in chamber 1 during the exposure ranged from
0.09 to 0.8 mg/m3 and amounted to an average of 0.144 mg/m3; in chamber 2,
- 107 -
-------
from 0.012 to 0.032 mg/m3, average 0.018 mg/m3, and in chamber 3, from 0.003
to 0.016 mg/m3, average 0.0076 mg/m3- Animals in chamber 4 served as the
control.
During the exposure, observations were made on the general condition of
the animals, their weight, changes in the alkaline reserve of whole blood,
change in the chlorides of the blood, content of erythrocytes and hemoglobin,
and amount of oxygen consumed (after Miropol'skiy), and the latent reflex
time was determined.
Butyric acid had no appreciable effect on the general condition and weight
of the animals. Toward the end of the exposure, all the rats gained weight.
The alkaline reserve of whole blood was determined by the method of
Derviz.
As we know from literature data, in healthy animals the alkaline reserve
of the blood is 110-115 raeq/1. We obtained such figures by studying the
animals before the start of the experiment.
After the experimental animals had been in the chambers for two weeks,
we observed a sharp decrease in the alkaline reserve of the blood in the
groups of rats in chambers 1 and 2, where the concentrations corresponded
to 0.15 mg/m3 and 0.015 mg/m3 (Fig. 1).
meq/I
u«
103
1D
It
\
-
SI/W «/r. Il,n !»/«. I,., 1J/a s/t ll/< Iff,: .
Background Days of observations Recovery period
twnffjtt. _ I,I1SVK/TSP
Ma ng/mS «.'s -
Fig. l. Change in the alkaline reserve of whole blood of
rats during inhalation of butyric acid.
Statistical treatment of the data showed that the changes in the alkaline
reserve of the blood were significant. The greatest changes were found in rats
of the first chamber. In rats of the control group and those in chamber 3
(0.0076 mg/m3), the fluctuations of the alkaline reserve of the blood were
within the normal range. Forty days after the end of the exposure, the alka-
line reserve of the blood was restored in all the animals.
- 108 -
-------
The chlorides in the blood were determined by Levinson's method (Fig. 2)
ttt
501
191
Background Days °* observation Recovery period
of if mg/m' us .
Fig. 2. Dynamics of change in the chlorides of the blood
of rats during inhalation of butyric acid.
After the experimental animals were placed in the chambers, an increase
in the blood chlorides was observed, with the sharpest increase in the course
of the entire experiment taking place in rats in chambers 1 and 2.
Statistical treatment of the data, carried out on the 60th day from the
start of the experiment, showed that the changes are significant in the group
of rats in chambers 1 and 2 as compared with the control group.
No changes in the content of chlorides in the blood of rats present in
chamber 3 were observed as compared with the control group.
Relative to the control group, no changes were observed in the content
of blood chlorides in rats of chamber 3.
Toward the end of the recovery period, a narrowing of the gap between
the content of chlorides of groups I and II and the control group was ob-
served.
The content of erythrocytes and hemoglobin in all the groups of experi-
mental animals was in the range of physiological norms. We should mention,
however, a decreasing trend in the number of erythrocytes in the blood of
rats of the first group.
As far as the determination of the amount of consumed oxygen and latent
reflex time is concerned, we did not obtain a statistically significant bound-
ary between the experimental and control groups of animals by using these in-
dicators .
- 109 -
-------
Conclusions
1. The threshold of olfactory perception of butyric acid for the most
sensitive persons corresponds to 0.06 mg/nr and coincides with the threshold
concentration established by the adaptation method. The threshold of action
of this substance on the electrical activity of the brain is 0.03 ing/nT"; the
inactive concentration is 0.015 mg/nr. The highest single maximum permissible
concentration which can be recommended is 0.015 mg/nH.
2. Butyric acid in concentrations of 0.15 and 0.015 mg/nr in chronic
exposure of white rats causes a decrease in the alkaline reserve of whole
blood and an increase in the blood chlorides.
Butyric acid in a concentration of 0.0076 mg/nr in chronic action on
white rats does not cause the changes observed at higher concentrations.
The mean daily maximum permissible concentration of butyric acid which
can be recommended is 0.005 mg/m .
- 110 -
-------
INTERACTION OF CONDITIONED AND UNCONDITIONED STIMULI
IN THE PRESENCE OF A COMBINATION OF LOW CONCENTRATIONS
OF BUTYRIC ACID AND RHYTHMIC LIGHT IN MAN
M. Kh. Khachaturyan and V. M. Styazhkin
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Erismana. "Voprosy gigieny atmosfernogo vozdukha i
planirovki naselennykh mest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 34-41, (1968).
I. P. Pavlov's teaching on the higher nervous activity enabled the phys-
iologist for the first time to make objective studies of the functions of the
cerebral cortex, a higher branch of the central nervous system which is not
only responsible for a closer adaptation of the organism to the steadily chang-
ing environment, but is also the most sensitive to adverse changes in this
environment.
Even in the very first studies of conditioned connections it was shown
that in the development of a conditioned reflex, the reactions caused by the
two paired stimuli change. The first stimulus not only acquires the ability
to cause the reaction characteristic of the second stimulus, but also alters
the reaction associated with its partner. A conditioned reflex can not only
inhibit (I. Ya. Perel'tsveyg, 1907; V. F. Shmidt, 1929; A. V. Vorob'yev and
A. A. Lindberg, 1932; V. V. Petrovskiy and Yu. P. Fedotov, 1934; A. M. Pavlova,
1935; E. A. Asratyan, 1941; V. V. Rikman, F. P. Mayorov, V. I. Fedorov, 1943)
or reinforce the unconditioned reflex (P. S. Kupalov and 0. P. Yaroslavtseva,
1935; P. S. Kupalov, 1936; Kostenetskaya, 1940; V. K. Fedorov, 1950;
B. I. Khodorov, 1954), but also change its course in time (P. S. Kupalov,
1940, 1941; B. I. Stozharov, 1949; 0. P. Yaroslavtseva, 1949).
In the last few years, the phenomenon of interaction of the conditioned
and unconditioned stimuli has been thoroughly studied in the laboratory of
E. A. Asratyan, Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, in the
course of an investigation of conditioned reflexes with an inverse connection
(E. A. Asratyan, 1965).
We made an attempt to use the above-indicated forms of interaction of
paired stimuli for purposes of sanitary standardization. To this end, studies
were made on the development of the conditioned reflex to the odor of butyric
acid in low concentrations. The unconditioned stimulus used was rhythmic
light at frequencies causing an optimally expressed unconditioned reflex
rearrangement of rhythms in the EEC of man (R. A. Pavlygina, 1957, 1960). The
presence of an analyzer and integrator made it possible to characterize quan-
titatively the shifts caused by the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli not
- Ill -
-------
only on the basis of the total bioelectric activity, but also directly from
the reaction to the rhythmic stimulus (G. N. Boldyreva, 1964).
The observations were made on four persons aged 19 to 38 years. During
the studies, performed many times, the subjects were sitting with eyes closed
in a darkened, soundproof, and insulated room. Standing in front of each
subject was a smelling cylinder with a diffuser through which was supplied
either pure air or the gas mixture studied, at a rate of 30 1 per minute.
The subjects were not aware of the moments when pure air was switcehd to the
gas or vice versa.
The recording of the potentials and their analysis were performed with
a set of instruments manufactured by the Estergom plant (Hungary). The set
included an eight-channel encephalograph and eight-channel band analyzer per-
mitting the separation of frequencies corresponding to the rhythms of the
encephalogram. The presence of an eight-channel integrator made it possible
to characterize quantitatively the average amplitude of both the encephalogram
and the separated rhythm. The EEC were taken off by the bipolar method from
the temporal, parietal, and occipital regions. A quantitative analysis of
the total encephalogram and range of the alpha rhythm was carried out for the
period of action of the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. Both stimuli
acted for 10 seconds each, and were separated by a pause of 1-2 seconds. The
magnitude of the reaction was calculated in percent relative to the background.
The background used was the average amplitude of the encephalogram and alpha
rhythm for the 10 seconds immediately preceding the conditioned stimulus.
The conditioned stimulus was butyric acid vapor in concentrations of
0.06, 0.03, and 0.015 mg/m^; the unconditioned stimulus was rhythmic light
at a frequency of 8 Hz for subject I. V. and 10 Hz for subjects V. M., V. Ye.
and M. Kh.
The light source was located at a distance of 1.0 m from the subject's
eyes. The light intensity, equal to 13.5 x 10~2 J, was clearly perceived by
the subjects through closed eyelids.
In the course of a single study, 10 pairings of the conditioned with the
unconditioned stimulus were made.
The development of the conditioned reflex was preceded by a series of
studies in which the magnitude of the unconditioned reaction to both the
rhythmic photic stimulus and the background activity at the location of the
conditioned stimulus were investigated.
The development of the conditioned reflex was started with a maximum
concentration of butyric acid vapor of 0.06 mg/m3, equal to the perception
threshold of its odor. Keeping in mind that the conditioned reflexes to weak
stimuli are very unstable and that in man the development of such conditioned
- 112 -
-------
reflexes is rapid (K. A. Bushtuyeva, 1963), each concentration, i.e., each
intensity of the conditioned stimulus, was used for 5 days (50 pairings).
To detect the formation of the conditioned reflex and the influence of the
conditioned on the unconditioned stimulus, a statistical treatment was
carried out by using a method of comparison of natural pairs of variants
(A. I. Venchikov, 1963). The following were compared: 1 - electric activity
of cerebral hemispheres during the action of the gas as compared to the
electric activity immediately preceding the photic stimulation in the "back-
ground" series of experiments, when no gas was used, and 2 - reaction to light
before and after the development of the conditioned reflex to the odor of
butyric acid.
Since the study was made for the purpose of a sanitary standardization,
we shall not dwell on the examination of the course of development of the
conditioned reflex and its characteristics. However, we think it necessary
to give some examples of the forms of bioelectric activity which we observed
before and after the development of the conditioned reflex. In subject I. V. ,
the first presentation of light before the development of the conditioned
reflex caused a reinforcement of the background activity followed by a reaction
of assimilation of the rhythm of the photic flicker. The seventh presentation
of light in the same study caused a rhythm assimilation reaction which was
most distinct in the occipital takeoff. After the development of the conditioned
reflex to the odor of butyric acid in a concentration of 0.015 mg/m^, in some
pairings there was observed a well-defined conditioned reflex reaction of
rhythm assimilation in all the recorded regions during the action of the gas,
and in other regions, a reinforcement by the conditioned stimulus of the uncon-
ditioned reflex reaction of rhythm assimilation in response to the rhythmic
photic stimulus, or an unchanging unconditioned reflex reaction in the absence
of the conditioned reflex reaction.
Because of the variability of the phenomenon studied and the feasibility
of its quantitative characterization with the aid of the integrator readings,
we shall henceforth utilize only the results of statistical treatment of the
data obtained.
Table 1 listed the results of statistical treatment of the results for
the development of the conditioned reflex to the odor of butyric acid in a
concentration of 0.06 mg/m^, where M is the difference of the arithmetic
means, m is the difference error, and t = ]1.
m
Attention is drawn to the fact that the values of M turn out to be
higher for the alpha rhythm range than for the total EEC. This confirms the
data of G. N. Boldyreva (1964) showing that the reaction of rhythm assimilation
is best manifested in the separated range of rhythms which include the frequency
of the photic stimulation.
- 113 -
-------
lable 1
Obs.
V. M.
V. *e.
I. V.
M. Kh.
Butyric Acid, 0.06 og/m
2-4
M
1,64
0,46
6,18
0.1
m
2,9
1,8
1.83
3,9
I
0,56
0,25
3.2S
0,03
0 S
M
0,24
1.17
3,4
2,9
m
2,3
1,07
3,8
2.84
t
0,1
1,09
0.9
1,02
10-12
M
4,30
6,47
1,05
1,2
3,1
4,04
I
1,4
1,6
3,2510,3
14 !0
M
1.3
1.18
6,52
3,9
m
:{,5
1.4-1
4,03
6,8
I
0,31
0,81
1.6
0,6
Obs.
V. M.
V. Ye.
I. V.
M. Kh.
Alpha Rhythm
2-4
M
2,63
4.16
8,78
4.1
m
2,9
2.0
5,9
t
0,92
Butyric Acid, 0.06 mg/m5
G-8
M | m
—
2.0S| _
1,48
—
—
—
—
—
—
t
_ .
—
—
—
10-12
M
5,9
5, 78
5,42
3.2
m
3.7
1,21
1,97
t
1,5
4,6
2,7
14-16
M
0,32
0,32
7,72
0.9
m
•5.2
3,0
6,1
3,3
t
0,05
0,1
1,2
0,3
Obs.
V. M.
V. Ye.
I. V.
M. Kh.
EBG Light After Butyric Acid, 0.06 ng/rn^
2-4
M
7,38
1.8
1,98
3.7
m
4.2
2,6
4.5
3.3
t
1,75
0,69
0,44
1,1
6—8 | 10—12
M
5,92
10,07
4,5
0.4
m | t | M | m
5,75
4,25
7,7
2,5
1,02
2,1
0,58
0,16
1,38
0,75
1.8
9,2
5.S
3.46
2,7
0.2
t
0.2
0.21
0.7
0,9
14-16
M
10,2
9,44
1.6
1,8
m | t
6,2
8,57
5,0
1,8
2.3
1,1
0,32
2,0
Obs.
V. M.
V. Ye.
I. V.
M. Kh.
Alpha Rhythm Light After Butyric Acid, 0.06 mg/a3
2—4
M
12.44
3.1
6,03
6,0
m
3,94
4.7
9.1
7.6
i
3.1
0,6
0.60
0.8
• 6-8
M
...
—
—
m
~—
—
t
—
10-12
M
7,6
- 4,2
- 15,62
- 13,5
m
6.1
9,4
17.1
2,9
t
1,2
0,44
o;g
4,3
14—16
M j m
14,66
6,38
0,66
9,8
9,3
10.53
8,r»
6.1
t
1,5
o.o
0,07
1.6
- 114 -
-------
The considerable variability of the phenomenon in question, which we
pointed out above, is expressed in the large values of m.
Similar data were obtained for the other intensities of conditioned
stimulation — butyric acid vapor in concentrations of 0.03 and 0.015 mg/m3.
The presence of a large amount of numerical data hinders the detection of
regular shifts in the course of the use of a conditioned stimulus of varying
intensity. In order to detect the regions of the cortex of the cerebral
hemispheres where the stimuli employed cause the largest shifts, Table 2
gives the values of t separately for different intensities of the conditioned
stimulus.
During the action of the conditioned stimulus, the largest shifts take
place at its highest intensity (of those studied): 6.06 mg/m3 of butyric
acid. These shifts are found to be most distinct for the alpha rhythm range
in the temporal and sincipital takeoffs, i.e., leads that are reached by
impulses from olfactory stimulations. As the conditioned stimulus is weakened
to 0.03 mg/m3 of butyric acid, the shifts become smaller, but continue to
remain statistically significant. On the other hand, when the conditioned
stimulus — butyric acid — is present in a concentration of 0.015 mg/m3,
they become statistically insignificant.
A change in the course of the reaction to the unconditioned stimulus —
rhythmic light — under the influence of the conditioned stimulus takes place
in all the leads.
The intensity of the influence of the conditioned on the unconditioned
stimulus also depends on the strength of the conditioned stimulus. This is
pronounced, and is statistically significant in character for an intensity
of the conditioned stimulus of 0.06 and 0.03 mg/m3 butyric acid and is con-
siderably weaker and statistically insignificant at a butyric acid concentra-
tion of 0.015 mg/m3.
With only one available quantitative treatment of the data, we cannot
discuss the types of manifestation of the conditioned reflex reaction in the
form of an influence of the activity waves on the action of the conditioned
stimulus in the rhythm of the photic flicker or in the form of a depression
of the basic rhythm (G. N. Boldyreva, 1964, and others). However, the cortical
regions of the cerebral hemispheres in which we observed the most distinct
shifts fully correspond to the data obtained earlier by other investigators
(G. N. Boldyreva, 1964, et al.).
In the course of the study we noted a change in the excitability of the
conditioned stimulus center, as was shown in special studies on people
(A. M. Maruseva and L. A. Chistovich, 1954; G. V. Gershuni, 1957) and animals
(N! l! Nikolayeva, 1960; E. A. Asratyan, 1962; U. G. Gasanov, 1965, and others).
- 115 -
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Table 2
Obs.
V. M.
V. Ye.
I. V.
11. Kh.
V. M.
V. Ye.
I. V.
M. Kh.
V. M.
V. Ye.
Intensity
of
Conditioned
Stimulus
O.OGms/m3
ft
•
»
0,03 ne/ra3
X
•
•
0,015 .g/m3
•
Conditioned Stimulus
EEC
2-4
0.56
0,25
3,28
0,03
0,057
0,8
1.4
0.2
0,4
1,41
6—8
0.1
1,09
0,9
1,02
0,1
1.1
2.3
0,2
1.1
0.79
1C— 12
1.4
1.6
0.3 .
—
1,39
0,11
0,63
1.0
0,3
0,3
1-1- 16
0,34
0,81
1,6
0.6
0.2
0,03
O.f.7
0,43
0,23
0,54
Alpha Rhythm
2-4
0.9
2,08
1. 8
0
0,6
1,12
0,1
0,18
0,49
6-8
—
—
—
—
—
.....
—
—
—
10-12
1,5
4.6
2.7
2,6
1,3
2,5
0,3
1,03
1,2
14—16
0,06
1.1
fi.2
0,3
1,0
0,7
1,28
1,0
0,5
0.3
Unconditioned Stimulus
EEC
9 4
"
1.75
0,69
0.-14
I.I
0,01
0,9
4,0
1,4
0,6
1,9
6-8
1,02
0.21
0',7
0.9
o.;j
1,1
'•M
0,1
1,19
0,62
10—12
".2
0.21
0,7
0,9
0,28
1.1
(),9
0,8
i:,:j
0,28
14— 1(>
2,3
M
0.32
1,0
0,8
0,08
2,«
0.9
1.7
1.21
Alpha Rhythm
2- 4
3.1
0.6
0,66
0,8
1,3
0,3
5,7
0,9
0.6
1,0(5
6-8
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
.._
10- 12
1.2
0,44
9,9
4.3
l.t
(),'.)
2,3
O.I
1,2
1.6
14 16
1.3
0.6
0,07
1.6.
0,6
0.7
2,->
<»..->
1,7
O.'.'S.
Note to Tables 1, 2: 2—4 — left temporal lead
6—8 — right temporal lead
10—12 — sincipital lead
14—16 — occipital lead
-------
In the course of development of the conditioned reflex to the odor
of butyric acid, the excitability of the conditioned stimulus center in-
creased in all the subjects, as reflected in a decrease of the perception
threshold of the odor of butyric acid. Whereas before the development of
the conditioned reflex the odor perception threshold of butyric acid for
the most sensitive subjects was 0.06 mg/m^, during the development of the
conditioned reflex all the subjects perceived the odor of butyric acid in
a concentration of 0.03 mg/m3, and the most sensitive subject, I. V., per-
ceived the odor of butyric acid also in a concentration of 0.015 mg/m^ in
some pairings.
Conclusions
1. The study demonstrates the feasibility of formation of a conditioned
reflex connection between a weak olfactory stimulus and rhythmic light, and
the influence of the conditioned on the unconditioned stimulus under these
experimental conditions.
2. The use of automatic analytical procedures makes it possible to
characterize quantitatively the phenomena studied.
3. The higher sensitivity of the method as compared with other methods
employed such as the odor threshold and the influence on the light sensitivity
of the dark-adapted eye makes it possible to recommend it for sanitary stan-
dardization work.
LITERATURE CITED
1. AcparHH 3. A., >KypHa.i Bwcuiefl Hepnuoii Aejne.ibHocm 12, 371,
1962.
2. AcpaisiH 3. A., )KypHa.i ubtctuefi nepBHOfi aeaTe.ibnocTH. 15, 796,
1965.
3. Eo.i.iupCBa P. H., VcBoemie piiTMa CBCTOBUX MejibKaiinfi B 33P
Me.ioneKa B Hop:.ie H npii oprami'iecKiix nopaweinmx ro.iOBtioro Jioara. Rnc-
ceptautin, I9G4.
4. B y iii T > e B a K. A., F! o .1 e >K a e B, C e M e H e H K o A. A.., I~HrHena
H camiTapiifl fft 1, 1960.
5. B y ui T y e n a K. A., runicniiMocKan oueiiKa OKHC.IOB ccpw KBK atMOC-
4>cpiibix aarpaaiiciiHH. fliicceptaHHn, 1963.
6. B e n it3iio;iorii'iecKnfi wypna.i CCCP, 66, II, 1960,
10. H a B .1 H r H n a P. A.. Teaiicw Koii^epcimitu no BOnpoca.M
(|)H3nainriiii u. H. c.. Jl., 1957. 107—108.
II. n a B.I w run a P. A.. Tpy.iw HiicTiiTyra nuviucfi iicpBiiofi .I
IIOCTII, 5. 33—38, 1959.
12 XoflopOB B H. JKypiia.i aucuicfi iicpBiiofi ACHTC.IUIOCTII, 4. 852,
1954.'
- 117 -
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EFFECT OF LOW CONCENTRATIONS OF EPICHLOROHYDRIN VAPOR
ON THE ANIMAL ORGANISM
A. P. Fomin
From Ministerstvo Zdravoochraneniya RSFSR. Moskovskiy Nauchno-Issledovatel'skiy
Institut Gigieny Im. F. F. Erismana. "Voprosy gigieny atmosfernogo vozdukha i
planirovki naselennykh mest". Uchenye zapiski, Moskva, p. 50-56, (1968).
Among new chemical substances which lately have become widely accepted
in industry, a major one is epichlorohydrin.
First synthesized in 1854 by M. Berthelot and Luca, it became highly
popular much later, when P. Castan (1934-1938) showed that it could be used
for the preparation of a new group of polymer materials, the so-called epoxy
resins. Thanks to a host of valuable properties, epoxy resins are daily
assuming an increasing importance in the national economy.
Epichlorohydrin is a colorless, transparent, relatively volatile liquid
with a pleasant ester odor. It dissolves well in ether, alcohol, and animal
fats, and poorly in water.
There are very few experimental studies dealing with the toxicology of
epichlorohydrin. The most comprehensive work along these lines was carried
out by S. M. Kremneva and M. S. Tolgskaya (1961).
In acute and chronic experiments on animals (white mice, rats, and
rabbits), the authors found that epichlorohydrin has a high toxicity and can
have a general resorptive as well as local effect. Depending on the dose and
mode of its introduction into the organism, the clinical picture of poisoning
may be dominated by disturbances of the functions of certain organs and
systems, but in all cases the most pronounced changes are found in the lungs
and kidneys.
It should be noted, however, that in studying the chronic effect of
epichlorohydrin vapor, the authors dealt with comparatively high concentra-
tions of this substance (20-60 mg/m^ or higher) , which as a rule are seldom
found even under industrial conditions. It was of interest therefore to
study the influence of epichlorohydrin on the animal organism in higher con-
centrations .
To this end, we carried out a continuous inhalational exposure of labor-
atory animals for 98 days. The tests were conducted on 60 selected white
male rats of the same age which were divided into four groups of 15 rats in
each.
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The animals of the first group were subjected to the action of
epichlorohydrin vapor in a concentration of 20 mg/m3. This concentration
is one-half the minimum value studied by Kremneva and Tolgskaya and,
according to their data, was found to be close to the threshold concentra-
tion in a prolonged but interrupted exposure (3 hours a day).
In the second group, the rats were exposed to epichlorohydrin in a
concentration of 2 mg/m3, and in the third group, to 0.2 mg/m3, i.e., the
highest single maximum permissible concentration for atmospheric air. The
fourth group served as the control.
The following factors were observed in the course of the experiment:
condition and weight of the animals, change in the latent time of the
unconditioned reflex reaction; erythrocytes, leucocytes (including fluores-
cent leucocytes), hemoglobin, and nucleic acids were determined in the blood,
and coproporphyrin was studied in the urine. At the end of the exposure,
histopathological analyses of the internal organs of the animals were made.
The numerical data obtained were subjected to statistical treatment by
the range method.
Certain characteristics v/ere noted in the behavior of the experimental
animals. Thus, on the first day of exposure, the rats of the first group
were noticeably excited, and displayed agitation and a considerable mobility.
In the next few days the excited state was replaced by depression, which
lasted about three weeks. During that time, sluggishness and sleepiness were
observed.
The consumption of milk by the animals was somewhat unusual. Whereas,
for example, the animals of the third and control groups drank milk for
30-40 min, those of the second group drank the same amount in 1.5-2 hours,
and those in the first group, in 4.5-5 hours. This pattern recurred with an
exceptional consistency during one and a half months of exposure, and grad-
ually disappeared during the second half of the exposure period.
Observations of the weight dynamics of the rats were made once every
two weeks. The weight gain expressed in percent of the original value
lagged 14-19% behind the control in rats of the first group toward the end
of exposure. Rats exposed to an intermediate and lower concentration of
epichlorohydrin developed normally.
At the present time, in evaluating the influence of atmospheric pollu-
tants on the central nervous system of animals, mainly two indicators are
used: motor chronaxy of antagonist muscles and conditioned reflex activity.
In our study, we attempted to use a new procedure for this purpose,
i.e., the determination of the latent time of the unconditioned reflex reaction.
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The indicator used was the motor-defensive reaction in response to stimula-
tion with electric current. The latent time of this reaction was measured
with a reflexogenometer proposed by S. I. Gorshkov (196A). The latent time
was measured in five rats of each group once a week. During the test, five
measurements were made on each rat. An epichlorohydrin concentration of
20 mg/m3 caused a significant increase in the latent reaction time. This
increase occurred 1.5 months after the start of exposure and was observed
almost until the end of the exposure period (Fig. 1). No substantial dif-
ference in the magnitude of latent time was noted in rats of the second
and third groups as compared with the control.
msec
HI
KB 2«» J1Y
Fig. 1. Effect of epichlorohydrin on the latent
time of the motor-defensive reaction of rats of
different groups: 1 - control group; 2 - first
group; 3 - 2nd group; 4 - 3rd group.
In the last few years, fluorescent* microscopy is finding increasing
applications in hematological practice, in particular, in the functional
study of the blood system (V. A. Almazov, and S. I. Ryabov, 1963; Ye. B. Zakr-
zhevskiy and L. G. Vasil'yeva, 1963, and others). This method is based on
the ability of ultraviolet as well as blue and violet light to cause the
fluorescence of the formed elements of blood treated with special dyes —
fluorochromes. The possibility of using fluorescent analysis of leucocytes
for studying the effect of low concentrations of noxious substances present
in atmospheric air on the animal organism was first verified by A. D. Semenenko
(1963). Shortly thereafter, it was used by M. I. Gusev and K. N. Chelikanov
(1963) to substantiate the mean daily maximum permissible concentration of
amylenes (pentenes) in atmospheric air.
* Editor's note: For the Russian terms "luminescent" and "luminescence" in this paper, we have
substituted "fluorescent" and "fluorescence" on the basis of the definitions of these terms.
- 120 -
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In our studies, the fluorochrome used was acridine orange diluted
1:100,000 in saline solution. The effect of epichlorohydrin was estimated
from the amount of leucocytes with altered fluorescence. To this end,
200 leucocytes were counted in each smear, including leucocytes with altered
fluorescent properties.
Results of the counts are given in Fig. 2.
The data show that after only two weeks of exposure, an appreciable
increase in the number of leucocytes with altered fluorescence took place
in rats of the first group. By the sixth week, their amount had increased
almost sevenfold as compared with the control, and this was followed by a
gradual decrease to the norm. An epichlorohydrin concentration of 2 mg/m^
also caused statistically significant changes in the amount of fluorescent
leucocytes. The percentage of altered leucocytes in rats of the third and
control groups was in the range of the background fluctuations over the
entire course of exposure.
o
o
3
.p
c
HI
o
«
5S-S1 SO
Fig. 2. Dynamics of leucocytes with altered fluores-
cence in rats exposed to different concentrations of
epichlorohydrin. (Notation same as in Fig. 1.)
A study of the composition of peripheral blood did not reveal any sub-
stantial difference in the amount of erythrocy tes , leucocytes or hemoglobin
in the experimental animals as compared with the controls.
Nucleic acids in the blood were determined once every two weeks in
five rats of each group using a method proposed by A. S. Spirin (1958).
The method is based on separation of neucleic acids with hot perchloric
acid followed by their spectrophotometric determination at two wavelengths
(270 and 290 my). It was found that epichlorohydrin vapor in concentrations
of 20 and 2 mg/m3 caused a significant decrease in the amount of nucleic acids
- 121 -
-------
in the blood. In rats exposed to a high concentration, this decrease was
found to be more substantial and occurred much earlier than in animals of
the second group. On the average, the amount of nucleic acids in rats of
the first group in the course of the last two months of exposure decreased
by 22% as compared with the control group. At the end of the recovery period,
their content in the blood of animals of both groups returned to normal
(Fig. 3).
The chronic effect of epichlorohydrin vapor on metabolic processes in
the animal organism was studied on the change of porphyrin metabolism. The
amount of coproporphyrin excreted with the urine was determined once every
two weeks in five rats of each group using a spectrophotometric method
(M. I. Gusev and Yu. K. Smirnov, 1960).
isa
HO
at
120
in
100
90
10
K-a t-n tz-n e-v M-V 3-vi IMI i-w B-VI is-w-st
Fig. 5. Change in the content of nucleic acids in
the blood of white rats during chronic exposure to
epichlorohydrin vapor. (Notation same as in Fig. 1.).
Before the exposure, the daily excretion of coproporphyrin with the
urine amounted to an average of 1.4-1.62 yg per 100 g of weight. During
the exposure of rats of the first group, the amount of coproporphyrin began
to increase rapidly, and in the middle of the second month reached its
maximum, 2.68 yg. In the control group, however, the amount of coproporphyrin
by that time was 1.07 Mg.
Concentrations of epichlorohydrin vapor of 2 and 0.2 mg/m^ had no signifi-
cant effect on the porphyrin metabolism.
After the completion of exposure, some of the rats (five from each
group) were sacrificed. Histopathological analyses revealed a series of
morphologic changes in the tissues of internal organs in rats of the first
group. In the lungs, there was emphysema, fine-focus pneumonia, small areas
of edema, and loosening and swelling of the adventitia of the blood vessels.
- 122 -
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Intermuscular fine-focus hemorrhages and congestion of the veins were noted
in the heart, and protein degeneration of the epithelium of convoluted
tubules were found in the kidneys. In the central nervous system, there
was serious damage to neurons of the myelencephalon, cerebellum, and Ammon's
horn of the brain.
In animals exposed to epichlorohydrin vapor in concentrations of 2 and
0.2 mg/n»3, no morphological differences from the control were found in the
tissues of the internal organs.
Conclusions
1. Epichlorohydrin in a concentration of 20 mg/m in chronic inhala-
tional exposure causes functional disturbances in white rats (change in
the general state, weight lag, lengthening of the latent time of the motor-
defensive reaction, increase in the number of leucocytes with altered
fluorescence, decrease in the content of nucleic acid in the blood, increase
in the amount of coproporphyrin in the urine), and also morphological changes
in tissues of the internal organs (lungs, heart, kidneys) and in the central
nervous system.
2. An epichlorohydrin concentration of 2 mg/m3 under the same condi-
tions of exposure affected only certain physiological reactions of the
organism (increase in the number of leucocytes with altered fluorescence
and decrease in the content of nucleic acids in the blood).
3. A mean daily maximum permissible epichlorohydrin concentration of
0.2 mg/m3 is recommended in atmospheric air. This concentration was found
to be inactive in chronic exposure of the experimental animals.
- 123 -
-------
LITERATURE CITED
A .1 M a 3 o B B. A., P n 6 o n C. M.. MCTO.IM (JiynKUMoiia.ihiioro ncc.io-
iur.i CIK-TCMW Kponn. 19fi3.
F y c e B M. II., C M n p H o B K). K-.. Onpe.ic.ieiiue cneKTpo(|>OTOMeTpii-
MCTO.IOM Konponopil)iipinia, BbW.iwcMoro c MOMOM. B KH. Flptvuvn.no
..^,.;iM.ivKTO|>iibix poaKuiifi KSK JIACK-
TiiMfi noKjisaTC.-iu (jiyiiKHiioii.n.'ii.iinro cocTOdinin iicpBiinfi CIII-TCMU. ~
CKatt AiiccepTamtfl, 19(i2.
4. 3 a Kp JKCBCKM u E. B.. Bacii.ibena /I. F.,
MiiKpocKonun B K.iiiMiiKo-rcMa.TO.ionmecKiix ncc.ie,ioBaiinnx, 1963.
5. KpoMHesa C. M. it To.ire Kan M. C./ ToKciiKo.ionisi
piiHa. B KH. ToKciiKo.ioniH tioBbix npoMbiui.ieHHbix xiiMimecKiix aemecTD.
Bwn. 2. .1961, crp. 28—41.
6. C e M e H e H K o A. U.., JlioMiiHecueHTHo-MiiKpocKonimecKiie Hcc.ieflosa-
Hiin (popMCHHbtx 3-iexienTOB KpoBn B yc.ioBitjix ,1-iHTe.ibHofi Kpyr.iocyToqiiofi
aarpaeKH Ma.ibiMii KOHUCHTpauimMii ami.iiiHa. B KH. flepean FIoBO^i/KCKasi
HayMHan KOHcjicpeHmm riirneniicTOB. r. Kyfi6wmeB, 1963, crp. 142—144.
7. C n H p it H A. C., CneKTpocjjOTOMeTpiiiecKoe onpeae-ieHHe cyjiMapiioro
Ko.iiiqeciBa HyK.ieiiHOBbix KIIC.IOT. BIIOXHMIIH, 1958, crp. 656.
8. C tf M a K o B FI. B.. Ko.umecTBeHHoe onpe.ie.ieHiie HyK.ieiiHOBbix KIIC.IOT
x Kposii Me.iOBexa n /KIIBOTHMX. Bonpocw niiTaHim. 1960, ,\» 6, crp. 69—71.
9. C H M a K o B PI. B., HsMeueHim co.iepxaHtia HyK.ieiiHOBbix KHC.IOT B
KPOBH aeTefi pasHoro sospacra. Bonpocw niiiamiH. 1962. JS's 4, ctp. 1Q—14.
10. Berthelot .M., Zuca A.. Chim. Phys. 1854, (3^ 41, 299.
11. KacTan H., IIIeefitiapCKufl nareHT 211116 (31. 8. 40).
- 124 -
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46 THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OR RESISTANCE TO GAS
AND SMOKE OF VARIOUS ARBOREAL SPECIES
GROWN UNDER DIVERSE ENVIRONMENTAL
CONDITIONS IN A NUMBER OF INDUSTRIAL RE-
GIONS OF THE SOVIET UNION-A Survey of USSR
Air Pollution Literature
47 METEOROLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL ASPECTS
OF AIR POLLUTION; PROPAGATION AND DIS-
PERSAL OF AIR POLLUTANTS IN A NUMBER OF
AREAS IN THE SOVIET UNION-A Survey of USSR
Air Pollution Literature
48 THE AGRICULTURAL REGIONS OF CHINA
49 EFFECTS OF METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS
AND RELIEF ON AIR POLLUTION. AIR CON-
TAMINANTS - THEIR CONCENTRATION.
TRANSPORT, AND DISPERSAL-A Survey of USSR
Air Pollution Literature
50. AIR POLLUTION IN RELATION TO CERTAIN
ATMOSPHERIC AND ME TO RO LOGI C A L
CONDITIONS AND SOME OF THE METHODS
EMPLOYED IN THE SURVEY AND ANALYSIS
OF AIR POLLUTANTS-A Survey of USSR Air
Pollution Literature
51. MEASUREMENTS OF DISPERSAL AND
CONCENTRATION. IDENTIFICATION, AND
SANITARY EVALUATION OF VARIOUS AtR
POLLUTANTS, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
THE ENVIRONS OF ELECTRIC POWER PLANTS
AND FERROUS METALLURGICAL PLANTS
-A Survey of USSR Air Pollution Literature
62 A COMPILATION OF TECHNICAL REPORTS ON
THE BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS AND THE PUBLIC
HEALTH ASPECTS OF ATMOSPHERIC
POLLUTANTS - A Survey Of USSR Air Pollution
Literature
53 GAS RESISTANCE OF PLANTS WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO PLANT BIOCHEMISTRY AND TO
THE EFFECTS OF MINERAL NUTRITION - A
Survey of USSR Air Polutlon Literature
54 THE TOXIC COMPONENTS OF AUTOMOBILE
EXHAUST GASES: THEIR COMPOSITION UNDER
DIFFERENT OPERATING CONDITIONS. AND
METHODS OF REDUCING THEIR EMISSION - A
Survey of USSR Air Pollution Literature
55 A SECOND COMPILATION OF TECHNICAL
REPORTS ON THE BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS AND
THE PUBLIC HEALTH ASPECTS OF
ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTANTS - A Survey of USSR
Air Pollution Literature
56 TECHNICAL PAPERS FROM THE LENINGRAD
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE
METEOROLOGICAL ASPECTS OF ATMOSPHERIC
POLLUTION (PART I) - A Survey of USSR Air
Pollution Literature
67 TECHNICAL PAPERS FROM THE LENINGRAD
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE
METEOROLOGICAL ASPECTS OF ATMOSPHERIC
POLLUTION (PART II) - A Survey of USSR Air
Pollution Literature
58 TECHNICAL PAPERS FROM THE LENINGRAD
INTERNATIONAL AYMPOSIUM ON THE
METEOROLOGICAL ASPECTS OF ATMOSPHERIC
POLLUTION (PART III) - A Survey of USSR Air
Pollution Literature
59 A THI«D COMPILATION OF TECHNICAL
REPORTS ON THE BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS AND
THE PUBLIC HEALTH ASPECTS OF ATMOSPHER-
IC POLLUTANTS - A Survey of USSR Air Pollution
Literature
60 SOME BASIC PROPERTIES OF ASH AND INDUS-
TRIAL DUST IN RELATION TO THE PROBLEM
OF PURIFICATION OF STACK GASES - A Survey
of USSR Air Pollution Literature
(Volume XVI)
61 A FOURTH COMPILATION OF TECHNICAL RE-
PORTS ON THE BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS AND THE
PUBLIC HEALTH ASPECTS OF ATMOSPHERIC
POLLUTANTS A Survey of USSR Air Pollution
Literature
(Volume XVII)
62 PURIFICATION OF GASES THROUGH HIGH TEM-
PERATURE REMOVAL OF SULFUR COMPOUNDS
— A Survey of USSR Air Pollution Literature
(Volume XVIII)
63 ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION WITH SPECIAL
REFERENCE TO AIR POLLUTANTS AND TO
SOME OF THEIR BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS - A
Survey of USSR Air Pollution Literature
(Volume XIX)
64 CATALYTIC PURIFICATION OF EXHAUST GASES
— A Survey of USSR Air Pollution Literature
(Volume XX)
Reprints from various periodical*.
A INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN CROP IMPROVEMENT
THROUGH THE UTILIZATION OF THE CONCEPT OF
AGROCLIMATIC ANALOGUES
(The Uta of Phenology, Meteorology and Geographical
Latitude for the Purposes of Plant Introduction and the Ex-
change of Improved Plant Varieties Between Various
Countries. )
B SOME PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS OF PHENOLOGICAL
DATA AS A TOOL IN THE STUDY OF PHOTOPERIODIC
AND THERMAL REQUIREMENTS OF VARIOUS PLANT
MATERIAL
*C AGRO-CLIMATOLOGY AND CROP ECOLOGY OF THE
UKRAINE AND CLIMATIC ANALOGUES IN NORTH
AMERICA
D AGRO-CLIMATOLOGY AND CROP ECOLOGY OF PALES-
TINE AND TRANSJORDAN AND CLIMATIC ANA-
LOGUES IN THE UNITED STATES
• USSR-Some Physical and Agricultural Characteristics of the
Drought Area and Its Climatic Analogues in the United States
: THE ROLE OF BIOCLIMATOLOGY IN AGRICULTURE WITH
SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE USE OF THERMAL AND
PHOTO-THERMAL REQUIREMENTS OF PURE-LINE VARI-
ETIES OF PLANTS AS A BIOLOGICAL INDICATOR IN
ASCERTAINING CLIMATIC ANALOGUES (HOMO-
CLIMES)
'Out of Print.
Requests for studies should be addressed to th«
American Institute of Crop Ecology, 809 Dole
Drive, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910.
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