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Scientists try to solve mystery of particulates

Published in the Stockton Record on 04/23/06

Warren Lutz
Record Staff Writer
Published Sunday, Apr 23, 2006

STOCKTON - They're much smaller than the width of a human hair, but some can give you headaches and even kill you. Some do nothing. Some can trigger coughing so violent you can't breathe. Some cause heart attacks. Some get into your lungs and your blood. Others go straight to your brain. What they do there, no one knows. In fact, what experts don't know about the tiny particles that make up bad air could fill a library. And they're even unsure about that. "The science of all air pollution is rapidly advancing and evolving," said Matt Haber, a deputy director with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "We don't even know what we don't know at this point." Now, a new effort involving engineers, biologists, toxicologists and physicians aims to find out exactly how bad San Joaquin Valley's notoriously bad air really is.

The Valley has never met federal standards for fine particulate pollution. Heavy vehicle traffic, dust and organic gases produced by farms and the Valley's bowl-like structure all contribute to the problem. According to a study released last month, the Valley's failure to meet federal air regulations costs $3 billion a year in lost productivity, health-care costs and premature deaths - or $789 a year for every San Joaquin County resident. Armed with an $8 million federal grant, as many as 60 different research scientists at the University of California, Davis, want to know what the Valley's myriad pollutants do inside the lungs of seniors, farm workers and children. Not every particle is toxic, said Kent Pinkerton, a UC Davis professor of anatomy, physiology and cell biology. But scientists are unsure without further studies. "We really don't have a good handle on which types of particles are likely to produce which health effects," Pinkerton said. In the Valley, however, there's plenty of airborne nasties to look into.

Vehicle exhaust, gases from dairy operations, dust stirred up by farming and burning wood are contribute to a floating stew of particulates. Most particles regulated by state and federal officials are 10 microns or smaller - about one-tenth the width of a human hair.

Anthony Wexler, another UC Davis professor and expert in analyzing the chemical and physical characteristics of airborne particles, said the school will be able to re-create many different air pollution scenarios on campus. Wexler, who recently became the director of the new San Joaquin Valley Aerosol Health Effects Center, last week showed off one such tool in his lab. An apparent mishmash of plastic tubes, boxes, gauges and metal framing, it doesn't look half as ominous as its purpose - taking particulates and condensing them into nightmarishly bad air pollution scenarios. One area of research will involve how rats react to that bad air. For example, Wexler said, early studies have showed the hearts of animals exposed to particulates will beat more steadily than normal. Although that sounds like a good thing, it's not. It could even signal the onset of a heart attack, said Wexler, explaining that a healthy heart is able to shift gears. "You want some variability," he said.

In her own lab several buildings away, cell biologist Michelle Fanucchi dangles an object she and other scientists will spend a lot of time with: the inside of a rat's lung. Created by pouring a rubber solution through the organ, it looks like a white, jiggly sea critter, or a three-dimensional negative of a sponge. Taken from a healthy rat, the cast will be used to compare with the lungs of rats exposed to high levels of pollution at different stages of growth. The goal: find out how air particulates affect growing bodies. The findings are particularly needed, Fanucchi said, because most previous studies were designed to find out how air pollution affects adults. "There's not enough research being done on children," she said. "You can't predict whether or not a child is susceptible based on how an adult reacts." The multidisciplinary approach to the research means scientists can share samples and data with each other, Wexler said. The goal, he added, is to build compelling research that results in better regulations that, in turn, protect people. "You got to do studies to understand the relationship between and human health and air pollution," Wexler said. Although there's no guarantee the research will be acted upon, he added, "some work ends up af
fecting the world."

Contact reporter Warren Lutz at (209) 546-8295 or wlutz@recordnet.com

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