Airborne Toxic Pollutants: Levels, Health Effects, and Suggested Policy Implementation Framework in Developing Countries

Abstract Scientific evidence has confirmed that air pollution is associated with several ailments and some particular toxic pollutants have caused cancer and death. Though anthropogenic emissions are increasing at a rate higher than data generation for hazard assessment, there is a lag in developing air quality regulations especially in developing countries. This chapter reviews the characteristics of some of the human carcinogens from VOC and SVOC chemical groups and PMs. It gives an in-depth look at the recent advances in the nano-PM size characterization and health studies and highlights the need for more studies to elucidate the mechanism that drives the toxicity of nanoparticles toward different organisms. This chapter also shows how scientific data can be put to use to estimate risk assessment and derive environmental laws that protect the public health. A look at the process led to proposing an environmental risk management system plausible for developing countries.