AIR-POLLUTION AND HUMAN HEALTH - PERSPECTIVES FOR THE 90S AND BEYOND

This payer considers the health effects of air pollution from three pe rspectives: historical, statistical, and public policy, and also as de picted by the recent epidemiology, primarily mortality studies. The hi storical perspectives establish the reality of population-based health effects, and they provide data with which to evaluate more recent evi dence. Statistical perspectives imply that, while there is strong evid ence that associations between air quality and health persist, many de tails of these relationships remain obscure, especially as to the exis tence of concentration thresholds that might define safe exposure leve ls. Additional major questions include the effects of uncertainties in actual pollution exposures, the degree of prematurity of ''excess'' d eaths, and whether the development of new cases of chronic disease is associated with air pollution. public policy issues center around inte rpreting the new epidemiological studies in the light of these uncerta inties and the analysis and management of the concomitant health risks .