Air Pollution and Biological Exposure near Petrochemical Industrial Complex

Yeosu(southern coastal region, Repubulic of Korea) industrial complex has produced a majority of petrochemical products since 1979. In spite of a huge industrial growth during the last 4 decades, there has been a heavy environmental pollution in the surrounding areas. As the public are worried about their environmental health status, this study investigated the air pollution and biological exposure in the surrounding areas of industrial complex. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were monitored at 10 sites in the residential areas by distance from the petrochemical complex. Biological exposure was assessed using questionnaire, and urine and blood samples of 600 residents. Ambient concentrations of VOCs and PAHs in the surrounding area were higher when compared to those of the area far from the industrial complex. The concentration of benzene (2.01 ppb) in several areas exceeded the annual standard (1.5 ppb). The geometric mean levels of urinary metabolites of all VOCs and PAHs, such as t,t-muconic acid, hippuric acid, methylhippuric acid, phenylglyoxlic acid, mandelic acid, 1-hydroxypyrene, 2-naphthol, 2-hydroxyfluorene, and 1-hydroxyphenanthrene in the residents living nearby were 45.17, 213.34(mg/g-cr), 307.38, 284.05, 303.30, 0.22, 4.74, 0.36, and 0.41 ug/g-cr, respectively, whereas those of residents far from the petrochemical industrial complex were 39.49, 197.86(mg/g-cr), 298.46, 228.06, 252.32, 0.21, 3.83, 0.25, and 0.16 ug/g-cr, respectively. Multi-regression analysis showed that residential region, gender, and smoking habit contributed to the concentrations of pollutants in urine and blood. The ratio of diagnostic experience on the chronic and acute disease such as diabetes, asthma, COPD, and allergic disease in questionnaire (about 30 diseases) did not show statistically significant relationship between regions.