Airborne Toxic Pollutants

Abstract

Most of the deaths linked to environmental exposure are attributed to air pollution (World Health Organization [WHO]/IER 2009). Atmospheric emissions are theoretically able to disperse maximally when in gaseous state. This is a property that has been put to use in chemical warfare using sarin (Murakami 2003) or pentafluorophenylarsenic oxide among many other toxic war gases (Rettenmeier 2004). However, the atmosphere is not a perfect gas, and precipitation, wind, and topography lead to a heterogeneous distribution of both pollutants in the air and deposition.