Chemical from smoke could be health hazard

BOULDER, Colo., May 16 (UPI) -- Cigarette smoking, forest fires and wood burning can release a chemical possibly responsible for human health problems, U.S. researchers say.

In a study led by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, scientists have been able to make the first measurements of the chemical, isocyanic acid, in the atmosphere, a NOAA release said Monday.

"We found isocyanic acid in a number of places, from air in downtown Los Angeles and air downwind of a Colorado wildfire, to cigarette smoke," said Jim Roberts a chemist with NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. "We also demonstrated that it dissolves readily in water, which means that humans can be exposed directly if it gets into eyes or lungs."

The health effects of such exposure are not fully known, but in the body isocyanic acid is part of a biochemical pathway linked with cataracts and inflammation that can trigger cardiovascular disease and rheumatoid arthritis, scientists said.

"There are literally billions of people in the world who burn biomass for cooking and heating," Roberts said. "If these indoor fires release similar levels of isocyanic acid as the fires we studied in the laboratory, families could be exposed to high levels of the chemical."

The research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.