Risk assessment of Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl benzene, and Xylene (BTEX) in the atmospheric air around the world: A review

Significance Health burdens of PM2.5 and its precursors vary widely depending on where emissions are released. Thus, advanced methods for assessing impacts on a fine scale are useful when developing strategies to efficiently mitigate the effects of air pollution. We describe a new tool for rapidly assessing the impacts of pollution emissions on a fine scale. We apply the tool to the US emissions inventory to better understand the contribution of each economic sector on reduced air quality. We show that, even for a national assessment, local (e.g., subcounty) information is important to capture the variability in health impacts that exist on fine scales. Our paper can help policymakers and regulators prioritize mitigation of emissions from the most harmful source locations. Show more