{"id":1885,"date":"2014-02-21T09:36:12","date_gmt":"2014-02-21T17:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/?p=1885"},"modified":"2014-02-21T09:37:05","modified_gmt":"2014-02-21T17:37:05","slug":"pahs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/2014\/02\/21\/pahs\/","title":{"rendered":"OSU Scientists Discover 14 New PAHs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally aired on KLCC 89.7<\/a> | By Jes Burns<\/a> | Used with Permission<\/p>\n

Simonich Radio Broadcast<\/a><\/p>\n

The South Willamette Valley consistently ranks high nationally for levels of air pollution.\u00a0 According to the American Lung Association, Eugene-Springfield was the 14th worse in the country for \u201cshort-term particle pollution\u201d in 2013.<\/p>\n

Air pollution is a complex mixture of chemicals and particulate matter \u2013so complex, scientists still don\u2019t know exactly what\u2019s in the air we breathe.\u00a0 But now they\u2019re one step closer.<\/p>\n

Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered fourteen new chemical compounds.\u00a0\u00a0 The mixtures can be hundreds of times more likely to cause mutations than other pollutants.<\/p>\n

It all started in Beijing at the Summer Olympics of 2008.\u00a0 Concerns about the high levels of air pollution were a major storyline of the games.\u00a0 That created the opportunity for OSU Chemistry Professor Staci Simonich to begin doing air testing in China.<\/p>\n

\n \"PAH's\"<\/a>\n
Dr. Staci Simonich, Professor in Environmental and Molecular Toxicology in her office at Oregon State University (Credit Jes Burns)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

Simonich: \u201cThe first paper my laboratory published on the air quality and particulate matter in Beijing before, during, after the Olympics was a little controversial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite this, Simonich was able to continue work in the country, figuring out the chemical fingerprint of air pollution and using that information a bit closer to home.<\/p>\n

Simonich has an air monitoring station at the top of Mt. Bachelor near Bend.\u00a0 There, she is able to detect if air pollution in China is making its way across the Pacific Ocean to Oregon.\u00a0 Short answer: it is.<\/p>\n

Simonich: \u201cSome of the compounds that we found that were transported were Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026Or PAHs.\u00a0 Quick science lesson: That’s the name for a group of chemical compounds. Many are classified as carcinogenic and mutagenic by the Environmental Protection Agency.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been shown to cause things like tumors and birth defects in lab mice, and a growing body of research suggests serious ill effects on humans as well, including cancer.\u00a0 So they\u2019re regulated by the government.<\/p>\n

PAHs are naturally occurring \u2013 and happen whenever organic material is burned.<\/p>\n

\n \"PAH\"<\/a>\n
One of the labs on the OSU campus where PAH research occurs. (Credit: Jes Burns)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

Simonich: \u201cAnytime there was a forest fire or a prairie fire or even to some degree even a volcanic eruption if there\u2019s carbon present\u2026\u00a0 For eons, since the advent of fire, there\u2019s been PAHs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, since humans started burning fossil fuels like coal and oil, the amount of PAHs in the atmosphere has dramatically increased.\u00a0 And PAHs are even being produced in the home.<\/p>\n

On the barbecue.\u00a0 When meat, and in particular fat, is charred on a grill \u2013 like I\u2019m doing right now \u2013 PAHs are produced.\u00a0 So I\u2019m breathing in all kinds of PAHs right now \u2013 not a pleasant thought.<\/p>\n

Simonich: \u201cWe tend to think a lot about particles in air, and that is important – in our lungs.\u00a0 But largest dose of our exposure is via diet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wait, does that mean I should put down my tongs right now?<\/p>\n

Simonich: \u201cNo, I\u2019m a firm believer in everything in moderation\u2026”<\/p>\n

Through air monitoring in Oregon, Simonich found high concentrations of PAHs riding on the backs of particulate matter coming over from Asia.<\/p>\n

Simonich: \u201cAnd the fact that they\u2019re on very fine particles \u2013 less than 2.5 microns \u2013 means that they can be stuck in the lungs once you breathe them in.\u00a0 And then we started to think other pollutants are also transported in this mix.\u00a0 Could there be chemistry happening in Asia?\u00a0 Reactions that are occurring there or in transit across the Pacific Ocean that may be modifying them chemically?\u201d<\/p>\n

The other pollutant is the highly reactive nitrogen dioxide, commonly found in car exhaust. With computer modeling, the scientists predicted that the nitrogen dioxide and the PAHs would combine.\u00a0 Then in a lab, they recreated atmospheric conditions where both chemicals were present and tested the samples.<\/p>\n

Simonich: \u201cOne sample working on it continuously could take a week or so, between having the sample, extracting it, purifying it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Four to five-hundred samples later\u2026 The predictions were correct.\u00a0 The OSU team found fourteen never-before-detected compounds collectively called High Molecular Weight Nitro-PAHs<\/p>\n

But they didn\u2019t stop there. Back at the lab at Oregon State, they asked another question:\u00a0 How likely are these new compounds to cause mutations to genetic material?<\/p>\n

Using further tests, they found that the Nitro-PAHs are up to 467 times more mutagenic than the original PAHs on their own.<\/p>\n

So to give you a picture of this: imagine PAHs are tiny piranha \u2026 swimming out there in the air. If you encounter enough of them, you may begin to sustain long-term damage.<\/p>\n

Now imagine some of the Piranhas are carrying chainsaws.\u00a0 Those are the Nitro-pAHs.\u00a0 And the potential for damage is much greater.<\/p>\n

But currently those chainsaw-wielding Piranhas have only been detected in a lab at Oregon State.<\/p>\n

Simonich: \u201cOur next step now is to go into our air samples from Beijing and air samples from Mt. Bachelor, and various different diesel exhaust, and maybe even grilled meat, and start to look in those different parts of the environment to see where those chemicals may be.\u00a0 And the truth is no one has ever looked for them before.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because, prior the discovery of Simonich and her team, no one even knew they existed.<\/p>\n

The Oregon State research was published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click here to access the research.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n \"PAHs\"<\/a>\n
Chemical Storage in the Simonich lab (Credit: Jes Burns)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n
\n \"PAHs\"<\/a>\n
Gas Chromatographic Mass Spectrometer (Credit: Jes Burns)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally aired on KLCC 89.7 | By Jes Burns | Used with Permission Simonich Radio Broadcast The South Willamette Valley consistently ranks high nationally for levels of air pollution.\u00a0 According to the American Lung Association, Eugene-Springfield was the 14th worse in the country for \u201cshort-term particle pollution\u201d in 2013. Air pollution is a complex mixture… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3656,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187099,101481],"tags":[199233,199230,187084,199231,70000,199232,173102],"class_list":["post-1885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faculty-mentions","category-research-2","tag-environmental-and-molecular-toxicology","tag-environmental-science-and-technology","tag-mutagenic","tag-mutation","tag-pahs","tag-pollution","tag-staci-simonich"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1885"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1898,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885\/revisions\/1898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/erlenmeyer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}