IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i21p6970-d1266577.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Air Pollution inside Vehicles: Making a Bad Situation Worse

Author

Listed:
  • Naowarut Charoenca

    (Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
    Thailand Health Promotion Institute, Bangkok 10330, Thailand)

  • Stephen L. Hamann

    (Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

  • Nipapun Kungskulniti

    (Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
    Thailand Health Promotion Institute, Bangkok 10330, Thailand)

  • Nopchanok Sangchai

    (Faculty of Business Administration, Bangkok-Thonburi University, Bangkok 10170, Thailand)

  • Ratchayaporn Osot

    (Faculty of Business Administration, Bangkok-Thonburi University, Bangkok 10170, Thailand)

  • Vijj Kasemsup

    (Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

  • Suwanna Ruangkanchanasetr

    (Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

  • Passara Jongkhajornpong

    (Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
    Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand)

Abstract

Thailand has successfully forwarded Article 8, Protection from Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, of the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). It achieved its 100% smoke-free goals in public places in 2010, next pursuing other bans in outdoor places to lower particulate matter air pollution (PM 2.5 ). Our aim was to expose the secondhand smoke levels in vehicles since SHS is a danger to everyone, but especially to children and youth. This is the first experimental study of its kind in Thailand. We measured PM 2.5 for 20 min under four conditions in 10 typical Thai vehicles, including commonly used sedans and small pickup trucks. We used an established protocol with two real-time air monitoring instruments to record PM 2.5 increases with different vehicle air exchange and air conditioning conditions. Monitoring was recorded in the vehicle’s front and back seats. The most common Thai ventilation condition is all windows closed with fan/air conditioning (AC) in operation because of Thai tropical conditions. Mean exposure levels were three and nearly five times (49 and 72 μg/m 3 ) the 24 h WHO standard of 15 μg/m 3 in the back and front seats, respectively. These high PM 2.5 exposure levels warrant action to limit vehicle smoking for public health protection.

Suggested Citation

  • Naowarut Charoenca & Stephen L. Hamann & Nipapun Kungskulniti & Nopchanok Sangchai & Ratchayaporn Osot & Vijj Kasemsup & Suwanna Ruangkanchanasetr & Passara Jongkhajornpong, 2023. "Air Pollution inside Vehicles: Making a Bad Situation Worse," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(21), pages 1-12, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:21:p:6970-:d:1266577
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/21/6970/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/21/6970/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Laura J. Rosen & David M. Zucker & Shannon Gravely & Michal Bitan & Ana M. Rule & Vicki Myers, 2023. "Tobacco Smoke Exposure According to Location of Home Smoking in Israel: Findings from the Project Zero Exposure Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-13, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:21:p:6970-:d:1266577. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.