Carbon monoxide human monitoring

The effect of accumulation in various systems depends greatly on the quantity of pollutants involved. Many pollutants can be detected at concentrations lower than those necessary to affect human health. For pollutants which are eliminated slowly, individuals can be monitored over long periods of time to detect trends in body burden the results of these analyses can then be related to total pollutant exposure. Following are two examples of air pollutants that contribute to the total body burden for lead and carbon monoxide. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for protection of human health and welfare. These standards are defined in terms of concentration and hme span for a specific pollutant for example, the NAAQS for carbon monoxide is 9 ppmV for 8 hr, not to be exceeded more than once per year. For a state or local government to establish compliance with a National Ambient Air Quality Standard, measurements of the actual air quality must be made. To obtain these measurements, state and local governments have established stationary monitoring networks with instrumentation complying with federal specifications, as discussed in Chapter 14. The results of these measurements determine whether a given location is violating the air quality standard. 

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