研究發現 香味產品也會污染空氣大綱

The chemicals found in items you use every day - like your shampoo, perfume and cleaning products - now have as much of an impact on air pollution as vehicle emissions, according to a new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

美國國家海洋和大氣管理局進行的最新研究發現，在洗髮水、香水和清潔用品等人們每天使用的物品中發現的化學物質如今對空氣污染的影響與汽車排放的影響一樣大。

Researchers used 15 times more petroleum as fuel than as ingredients in consumer and industrial products, they said, yet the amount of chemical vapors released into the atmosphere through scented products is roughly the same as through fuel emissions.

研究人員表示，在消費者和工業產品中，他們使用的石油燃料是原料的15倍，然而，通過香味產品釋放到大氣中的化學蒸汽量與燃料排放量大致相同。

Those vapors are volatile organic compounds (VOCs). They react with sunlight to form ozone pollution, and the researchers found they also react with various chemicals in the atmosphere to create fine particulates in the air.

這些蒸汽是揮發性有機化合物。它們與陽光發生反應形成臭氧污染，而且研究人員發現，這些蒸汽還會與大氣中的各種化學物質發生反應，從而產生空氣中的細微顆粒。

"As the transportation sector gets cleaner, these other sources of volatile organic compounds become more and more important," said a NOAA scientist. "A lot of stuff we use in our everyday lives can impact air pollution."

該管理局的一位科學家稱：“隨着交通運輸業變得越來越清潔，揮發性有機化合物的其他來源會變得越來越重要。我們日常生活中用的很多東西都會對空氣污染產生影響。”

For the study, which was published in the journal Science, researchers specifically studied air pollution over greater Los Angeles.

這項研究發佈在《科學》雜誌上，研究人員特別研究了洛杉磯上空的空氣污染問題。

The team couldn't reconcile measurements made over the area with estimates of transportation emissions. So they reassessed sources of air pollution by combing through recent chemical production statistics and evaluated indoor air quality measurements that were made by other groups.

該團隊無法將在該地區進行的測量與運輸排放量的估計進行協調。因此，他們通過梳理最近的化學品生產統計數據重新評估了空氣污染的來源，並評估了其他小組進行的室內空氣質量測量的結果。

The team found that the VOC levels emitted by chemical products are actually two or three times more than earlier estimates, which had also overestimated emissions from vehicles.

該研究小組發現, 化學產品排放的揮發性有機化合物含量實際上比以前的估計值高出兩到三倍，這也高估了車輛排放量。

As an example, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about 75 percent of VOC emissions come from vehicles and about 25 percent from chemical products. The new study says the sourcing is closer to 50-50.

例如，環境保護署估計，大約75%的揮發性有機化合物排放來自車輛，約25%來自化學產品；而這項新的研究表明，後者已接近50%。

The lopsided air-quality impact is due to an inherent difference between scented chemical products and fuels.

不平衡的空氣質量影響是由於氣味化學產品和燃料之間的內在差異造成的。