Common name: 

• Sulfur Dioxide

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What are their health effects? 

• Exposure to very high levels may result in burning of the nose/throat, breathing difficulties, and severe airway obstructions.

• Long-term exposure to consistent levels of sulfur dioxide can result in decreased lung function.

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What’s a safe amount:?

• Exposure to 100 ppm SO2 is considered extremely dangerous to life/health. 

• Occupational exposure may lawfully range from 0-5 ppm.

• Typical outdoor concentrations may range from 0-1 ppm

  • This is consistent with the SO2 data from the air monitoring data for March. It rarely peaked over 1.00 ppm.

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What can you do to protect yourself?

• SO2 enters your body via nose and lungs, so limiting exposure to contaminated air by staying indoors during times of high air pollution is best.

• SO2 levels are generally higher during winter months but human exposure is more common during summer months due to increased time spent outdoors and open-windows for home ventilation.  

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Where do they come from?

• Exposure may come from breathing air containing SO2 or touching it

• You may also be exposed to SO2 if you are living near heavily industrialized activities where sulfur dioxide occurs

• LDEQ has stated that the Jefferson Parish Landfill is the major source of the odors, and that H2S and SO2 are the primary contributors to those nuisance odors.

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What does it smell like? Defining traits? 

• Colorless gas with a pungent odor. The smell is compared to a ‘just-struck match’

• People can often smell these gases in concentrations that are too low for a meter to detect.