Risk of asthma, lung cancer when using subway

Public opinion is raising doubts about the health effects of the large amount of tiny metal particles discovered and in the air of a European subway system.

Millions of people are traveling by subway systems in urban areas around the world. Researchers from the University of Southampton (UK) said, metal particles are entangled in the air when trains running on metal tracks can create health risks.

Researchers found large amounts of tiny dust particles mixed
in the air at the subway station. (Artwork: lightrailnow.org)

As is known, particles mixed in the air, if small enough to enter the human airway, are harmful to health. They will increase the risk of developing asthma, lung cancer and cardiovascular disease in humans.

The team investigated the amount of metal contained in the air of subway systems.

Matt Loxham, a member of the research team and a University of Southampton medical biologist, collected small, different sized particles at a metro system in a European city. reveal the name. Samples of dust particles are collected for 10 hours a day, during the morning and peak hours in the evening.

Pollution monitoring devices often collect particles about 10 micrometers wide (PM10 for short) as well as smaller particles with PM2.5 sizes, of which 1 micrometer is 1 millionth of a meter. For new research, scientists have even considered much smaller particles known as "miniscule" PM 0.1.

All collected seeds contain a lot of iron - up to half their weight. The team had hoped to find higher levels of metals in larger particles like PM10 and PM 2.5, but what surprised them was that the results appeared even in the smallest particles. .

Loxham has proposed a hypothesis to explain how metals get into dust. He said: "The phenomenon is almost certainly from the wheels of the train rolling on the tracks, from the brake system of the train, and when the train uses electricity from overhead cables or from a third rail. You can sometimes see flashes of light due to collisions and they are really hot enough to vaporize a very small amount of metal into the air. "