Children's lung function harmed by night market air pollutants: Study

Taipei, May 26 (CNA) A Taiwanese research team has found that air pollutants from night markets take a toll on the lung function of children living nearby.

The pulmonary function values of children who lived within 595 meters of a night market in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, were "significantly lower" than those of children who lived farther away, the team said in its paper, published in late March.

The paper, titled "Impacts of Night Markets on Indoor Air Quality and Lung Function of Children in Nearby Households," was the result of a year-long monitoring process and analysis conducted by a joint team from National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) and Kaohsiung Medical University.

In a phone interview with CNA on Monday, Lin Yuan-chung (林淵淙), a distinguished professor at NSYSU's Institute of Environmental Engineering, said the 595-meter distance was the dividing line separating the degree of harm done to children of 58 households in the area that were monitored for about a year.

The team used real-time monitoring equipment to measure concentrations of particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5, and PM10), as well as other elements such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone.

The readings were then analyzed in correlation with the operating hours of the night market.

The findings controlled for other variables that could influence the results, such as whether families burned incense, smoked, or cooked indoors, the researchers said.

In addition to significantly higher levels of air pollutants detected on nights when the market was open, the researchers found that children in the "far group" beyond the 595-meter distance were able to exhale much more air in the first second of forced exhalation than those in the "near group."

The team recommended that people living near night markets keep their windows closed during market hours and use air purifiers with built-in filtration, according to a press release issued by NSYU on Monday.

Lin said the research focused on children because they are generally more sensitive to environmental factors.

He suggested, however, that the findings may have broader implications and did not rule out future studies on the impact of night market air pollution on other age groups.

The paper was published in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology.