SHORT NOTE OF MEETING 25TH JUNE 2004

Minutes of the last meeting

1. The minutes of the last meeting were agreed.

Air Pollution and Infant Mortality (Kaiser et al 2004)

2. It was emphasised that this was not a new epidemiological study but rather a quantification based on an earlier epidemiological study by Woodruff et al 1997. It was considered that the Woodruff study was a good study, with control for many important possible confounders. However, as environmental tobacco smoke was a strong risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), any lack of full control for this alternative risk factor could influence the results. It was noted that WHO was preparing a report on air pollution and effects on children. It was agreed that COMEAP would consider this issue again, once the WHO report was available.

Report on Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease

3. A further draft of this report was considered. The Executive Summary and the Conclusions needed to be prepared and more work was needed on the structure of the report. It was agreed that questions the report needed to answer included:

- What kinds of heart disease are involved? Why do cardiac outcomes appear to be more affected than cerebrovascular outcomes?
- Why is there an association between ozone and cardiovascular mortality and not between ozone and cardiovascular admissions?
- Does the mechanistic evidence point to particles, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide or nitrogen dioxide as being the most important?

Further changes to the report would be agreed by correspondence.

Indoor Air Quality Guidance

4. The Committee welcomed this document which was now well advanced. Comments were made particularly on the section on the purpose of the guidance. This should be strengthened to emphasise that the guidance was intended to be helpful on a voluntary basis for those people who wished to consult it. It was also agreed that the areas that were included or excluded in the guidance document should be made clearer. Further comments by members would be sent in writing before the guidance was placed on the COMEAP website.

Quantification of the Effects of Air Pollution in the UK (QUARK II)

5. The Committee considered a paper outlining the scope of a new sub-group which would prepare a report updating the Committee's 1998 Quantification report and the later report on long-term effects of air pollutants. It was noted that pollutant levels had decreased but more health outcomes such as effects on life expectancy could now be quantified. The report would consider what were the most appropriate coefficients relating air pollution to health effects given the current health evidence and would consider whether further health outcomes could be quantified. The subgroup had not yet been set up but would start work early in 2005.

Handbook on Air Pollution and Health

6. The current Handbook was prepared in 1997 and was intended to give an extensive but simple summary of the air pollution and health evidence. The text was now being updated. Members were invited to comment on the first draft and to suggest new illustrations. The sections on research, EC directives and extracts from COMEAP and EPAQS reports still needed to be updated. A full colour draft would be presented to the Committee in February 2005.

Ozone report

7. The Committee was informed that there had been a subgroup meeting in May which had considered Chapters 1 to 5. It had been agreed to publish the report in 2 sections. An advanced draft of the first section (a general update of the evidence on the health effects of ozone) would be presented to the Committee at its Autumn meeting.

Date of next meeting

8. To avoid a clash with the AIRNET meeting, the next meeting would be in November. The exact date would be confirmed by correspondence.

Secretariat
July 2004

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