AIR HYGIENE REPORT no. 10
Contents

Preface

Biological monitoring with plants comprises low-cost, effective methods to estimate levels of air pollutants and their impact on biological receptors. Plants show an integrated response to contamination and other environmental factors. For many years now, they have been used to evaluate the uptake and enrichment of air pollutants in biota, plant injury and damage and crop losses. In particular, plants relevant for human nutrition and animal food were exposed to air pollution in addition to indicator plants such as lichens and mosses. Biological monitoring with plants is of practical value in assessing exposure and risks caused by various air pollutants. The uptake of pollutants in plants does not only affect plant life but also nutrition and food cycles. Contamination of nutrition and food influences human uptake of compounds and contributes - in addition to air pollutants - to the total human exposure. Total human exposure can only be estimated by looking at the individual exposure routes - air, food, drinking water, dermal contact. The critical organs in the human body - the organs were adverse effects are first observed - are usually not accessible for investigation in living individuals. Therefore, knowledge of the uptake in edible plants and of the contamination of animal food can give a hint to potential exposure risks for humans. On the other hand, indicator plants such as lichens and mosses possess efficient accumulation capacity for many air pollutants. Their exposure, therefore, can lead to detailed statements on the integral air pollutants. This report is an update of the MARC Report No. 32 "Biological Monitoring" and a first volume referring to a WHO project on biological monitoring. The monograph reviews comprehensively the existing literature on biological monitoring of air quality with plants. This review includes consideration of all plant species that are currently, or have a potential of, being used as bioindicators of air pollution. This review is intended to serve as a background paper for the derivation of guidelines for the use of biological monitors in air pollution control. The report was prepared at the Monitoring and Assessment Research Centre, MARC, at King's College in London, a WHO Collaborating Centre for Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. The work was supported by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Division of Operational Support and Environmental Health at the WHO, and the Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) of Germany.

A forthcoming report within the WHO project will provide a review of the methodological guidance for the drawing-up of guidelines on the use of biomonitors (plants) with respect to their relevance to human health impacts.

Dr Dietrich Schwela
World Health Organization
Department of Protection of the Human Environment
Occupational and Environmental Health Programme
Geneva

Professor Dr Peter Williams
Monitoring and Assessment Research Centre
King's College
London

Dr Angela Mulgrew
Monitoring and Assessment Research Centre
King's College
London

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