SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL PATTERNS OF AIRBORNE METAL POLLUTION - THE VALUEOF LOW TECHNOLOGY SAMPLING TO AN ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY STUDY

To investigate an epidemic of respiratory cancer in Armadale, central Scotland, its air pollution was studied. During a period of 18 months, low technology samplers were exposed at 47 sites in the town to monit or the local variations in contamination by atmospheric metals. The sa mplers were two types of lichen and two types of moss, one of each typ e being a transplant and the other an in situ sampler. Following each exposure, the comparability of the samplers' uptake and retention of t he metals was assessed. The sources of the metals and the effects of e nvironmental variables on the pollution patterns were investigated thr ough statistical analyses of spatial and temporal trends in the data. The spatial patterns of the metals indicated the steel foundry in the town as the major source of most of the pollutants. The temporal patte rns, although less statistically significant, suggested the pollution might have been affected by some meteorological factors and by the fou ndry's output, but not by the output of the other main industry in the town, i.e. a brickworks. The types of sampler showed a general simila rity of pollution pattern, but with some differences which indicated t hat some types of sampler were more suitable than others for particula r forms of survey. Low technology sampling can provide information abo ut short-distance and short-term changes in the patterns of airborne p ollution by metals, thereby assisting the interpretation of epidemiolo gical patterns of respiratory disease.