Tube Travel Bad For Your Health Say Southampton Team

Ever the bane of commuters’ lives, new research from our very own University of Southampton shows that tube travel may have negative implications for your health.

A team of researchers from the University of Southampton investigating samples of dust from an underground rail system found cause for concern in their discovery of an ultra fine dust high in toxic metal content that could have a harmful effect on the body when breathed in.

The team, which included the Geochemisty Group at the NOC and the Inhalation Toxicology Group at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven, collected airborne dust from an unnamed tube system in Europe and then compared it with samples from other sources such as a wood burning stove and a heavily trafficked road tunnel.

An elemental profile was made for each sample, which showed that the tube’s air was rich in metal content, particularly iron and copper. This amounted to tiny particles of metal not found in normal air that could penetrate deep into the lungs and body.

Matt Loxham, PhD student at the University of Southampton explains:

In the underground station we studied, the ultrafine dust was at least as rich in metals as the larger dust particles

Therefore, taken together with their increased surface area to volume ratio, it is of potential significance in understanding the risks of working and travelling in the underground.

The high level of mechanical activity in underground railways, along with very high temperatures is key in the generation of this metal-rich dust.

While coarse dust is usually deposited in the conducting airways of the body, such as the nasal passages and the bronchi, finer particles have the potential to reach into the deepest areas of the lungs.

Ultrafine dust can reach the alveoli, where oxygen enters the blood and evidence shows that it may even be able to evade the protective barrier lining the airways (the epithelium), and enter the underlying tissue and the circulation; meaning it could harm the cardiovascular system, liver, brain and kidneys.

The team then demonstrated that the dust was capable of generating reactive molecules, which was key to their toxic effects. This was found to be dependent not only on the metal content of the particles, but also to increase as the particle size decreased.

Loxham called for more research into the matter adding, “Underground rail travel is used by great numbers of people in large cities all over the world, for example, almost 1.2 billion journeys are made per year on the London Underground.”

“The number of people likely to be exposed means that more studies into the effects of particulate matter in the underground railway environment are needed, as well as examining how the levels of dust and duration of exposure might translate to effects on health.”

The study was funded via the Intergrative Toxicology Training Partnership studentship provided by the Medical Research Council UK and published in Environmental Science and Technology.