Abstract
The Intake Fraction (iF) is the ratio of the cumulative mass inhaled by the exposed population to the cumulative emission. It has been proposed as a measure that can facilitate the establishment of measures and decision making for pollution control. Many iF studies, especially about the atmospheric environment, have been mainly carried out in the United States and Europe until now, while little is known about the iF in Japan. We examined the definition and characteristics of iF, along with introducing some case studies. The emission and intake/inhalation were mainly estimated based on the existing emissions inventory and using the atmospheric dispersion model, respectively. It is expected that iF can be used for considering the local pollution control due to automobile exhaust and for other environmental problems in Japan in the near future, even though it is necessary to consider methodological issues such as how to estimate the concentration emitted from a specific source.
