During the years of the epidemiological group-diagnostic examination (1982-1986) it was attempted to characterize the atmospheric air pollution in the industrial Rhine-Main area (Wiesbaden and Frankfurt) and, in comparison, in two control areas (Freiburg with the adjacent High Black Forest and the Starnberg area). For this the measurements of the air measuring stations of the network for emissions of the German Umweltbundesamt (Federal Environmental Protection Agency) at Berlin and Frankfurt were used and well as those of the Hessische Landesanstalt für Umwelt, Wiesbaden (Hessian Office for Environmental Protection); Landesanstalt für Umweltschutz Baden-Württemberg, Karlsruhe (Regional Office for Environmental Protection of Baden-Württemberg); Bayerische Landesanstalt für Umweltschutz (Bavarian Office for Environmental Protection, Munich), were used. The comparison of the different measuring components used shows the pollutant concentration in the air at the measuring stations in Wiesbaden and Frankfurt attains the highest values. Opposed to that, the pollutant concentration in the areas Freiburg with the adjacent Black Forest and in the region of Starnberg can be judged to be relatively low. No statement can, unfortunately, be made on the heavy metal burden in the air of the Starnberg area, since heavy metal in the air have not been analysed.