Publications

In Part III of this study, Dr. Belinsky and his associates at the Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Institute examined lung tumors from rats that had inhaled high concentrations of diesel engine exhaust or carbon black particles (see Part I by Dr. Joe Mauderly). The investigators applied molecular biology techniques to measure mutations in selected genes in the DNA from the tumors.

Dr. Beland and his associates at the University of Arkansas School of Medical Sciences developed an assay to measure mutations induced by dinitropyrenes, a class of diesel engine exhaust, in rats. The investigators analyzed the mutations in a selected gene in spleen T lymphocytes from rats treated with 1,6-dinitropyrene under conditions that induced lung tumors at the highest dose tested. They also examined DNA adduct levels in lung and liver tissues and in spleen lymphocytes and white blood cells.

The Phase I.A Report of the Particle Epidemiology Evaluation Project. The Health Effects Institute began the Particle Epidemiology Evaluation Project in 1994 to evaluate the emerging epidemiologic evidence of a relation between particulate air pollution and daily mortality. In Phase I.A, Drs. Jonathan M. Samet and Scott L. Zeger and their colleagues at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health (1) reconstructed from original sources the data set for Philadelphia used in earlier studies and confirmed previous numerical results from analyzing these data; (2) developed an analytic approach (including new statistical methods) based on the Philadelphia data set; and (3) applied this approach to data sets for six locations: Philadelphia; Utah Valley; St. Louis, MO; Eastern Tennessee; Birmingham, AL; and Santa Clara County, CA.

A Special Report of the Institute's Diesel Working Group. Diesel engine emissions have the potential to cause adverse health effects, including cancer and other pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases. However, it is difficult to distinguish the potential health risks attributable to exposure to diesel exhaust from those attributable to other air pollutants. For over a decade, HEI has supported a broad-based research program to evaluate the health risks of diesel emissions, including investigations of carcinogenesis, modeling studies, and emissions characterization. The purpose of this Special Report is to examine what is known, not known, and still uncertain about the health risks of exposure to diesel emissions.