Matt Shapiro travels to Paris to discuss research on Northeast Asian air pollution

Associate Professor of Political Science Matt Shapiro gave a presentation on Saturday, Dec. 9 at the Association des Scientifiques Coreens en France (ASCOF) in Paris for the International Seminar on Particulate Matter, Human Health IMpacts and Trasnboundary Issues.

According to the ASCOF, "with accelerated urban development and modernization, air pollution is worsening and its impact on human health has become a main research topic. Air pollutants include gaseous pollutants and particle matters (PM). Particulate Matter (PM) is an air pollutant consisting of a mixture of solid and liquid particles suspended in the air. These particles differ in their physical properties (such as size), chemical composition, etc. PM can either be directly emitted into the air (primary PM) or be formed secondarily in the atmosphere from gaseous precursors (mainly sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and non-methane volatile organic compounds). Primary PM (and also the precursor gases) can have anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic sources (for primary PM, both biogenic and geogenic sources may contribute to PM levels). In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that outdoor air pollution is carcinogenic to humans, with the particulate matter component (PM10 and PM2.5) of air pollution most closely associated with increased cancer incidence, especially cancer of the lung."

Shapiro's presentation, "Northeast Asian Transboundary Air Pollution: Updates to the Political Economy of Particulate Matter," examined his findings from two recent public opinion surveys of the Korean public regarding transboundary air pollution, energy policy options, and health behavior-related changes.