PERSONAL EXPOSURES OF PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN TO CARBON-MONOXIDE - ROLES OF AMBIENT AIR-QUALITY AND GAS STOVES

Personal 1 h mean CO exposures of preschool children in two day care c enters (Toolo and Vallila) in Helsinki were measured with continuously recording personal exposure monitors. In Vallila, the median CO expos ure of children from homes with gas stoves was 2.0 mg m(-3), and with electric stoves, 0.9 mg m(-3). In Toolo, the corresponding values were 1.9 and 1.0 mg m(-3), respectively. The national ambient air quality guidelines for CO in Finland were exceeded in a few-percent of the exp osure measurements. The results were compared to fixed-site ambient ai r monitoring data and related to the presence of town-gas fired stoves in the children's homes. The results show that fixed-site ambient air monitors are of little value in predicting personal exposures of chil dren or even their relative differences between areas. They also show that town-gas fired stoves may have a profound effect on the CO exposu res of the children.