Potential human health effects of acid rain: report of a workshop

This report summarizes the potential impact of the acid precipitation phenomenon on human health. There are two major components to this phenomenon: the predepositional phase, during which there is direct human exposure to acidic substances from ambient air, and the post-depositional phase, in which the deposition of acid materials on water and soil results in the mobilization, transport, and even chemical transformation of toxic metals. Acidification increases bioconversion of mercury to methylmercury, which accumulates in fish, increasing the risk to toxicity in people who eat fish. Increase in water and soil content of lead and cadmium increases human exposure to these metals which become additive to other sources presently under regulatory control. The potential adverse health effects of increased human exposure to aluminum is not known at the present time.