The comparative cost effectiveness of reducing public exposure to carcinogens by abating chemical plant emissions

Conference · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1983 · Proc., Annu. Meet., Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:7099289

Price, J H; Ledbetter, J O

This paper reports results from academic work performed at the University of Texas at Austin. Although the first author is a staff member at the Texas Air Control Board (TACB), the approaches, work, conclusions, and opinions expressed in this paper are solely those of the authors. The work reported here was done to look at the reasonableness and cost effectiveness of reducing public exposure to carcinogens by reducing the emissions of carcinogens from existing chemical plant vents. The results are compared with the cost effectiveness of controls typically applied to new sources of VOC emissions that are controlled because of their contribution to photochemical air pollution, not because of their carcinogenicity. An attempt has also been made to see whether the costs of reducing public exposure by controlling emissions from existing chemical plant vents are low or high compared with the costs of reducing public exposure to carcinogens through air, food, or drinking water. Harris County, Texas, which contains the City of Houston, was chosen for the study because: (1) it contains many synthetic organic chemical plants that have large production capacities; (2) emissions inventory data were available on chemical plant vents; and (3) data necessary to establish the population distribution in the county were available.

• Research Organization: Texas Air Control Board Austin, Texas
• OSTI ID: 7099289
• Report Number(s): CONF-830617-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Proc., Annu. Meet., Air Pollut. Control Assoc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 83-6-4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
560300 -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
CARCINOGEN SCREENING
CARCINOGENS
CHEMICAL EFFLUENTS
CHEMICAL PLANTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONTROL
COST
DRINKING WATER
ECONOMICS
EMISSION
FEDERAL REGION VI
FLUIDS
FOOD
GASES
HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
PUBLIC HEALTH
SCREENING
TEXAS
USA
VENTILATION SYSTEMS
WATER