Occupational allergic contact dermatitis from alkanolamineborates in metalworking fluids

Abstract

Alkanolamineborates are extensively used in coolants as corrosion inhibitors. In this paper, 3 machinists with contact allergy to alkanolamineborates are reported. To avoid false-positive test reactions due to the alkalinity of the alkanolamineborates, they should be tested when dissolved in an acidic buffer. When various alkanolamineborates were tested in dilution series in the 3 patients, 2 types of reactivity patterns emerged, indicating the existence of at least 2 separate sensitizers in alkanolamineborates. The raw materials, ethanolamines and boric acid, did not yield any positive patch test reactions. Thin-layer chromatography investigations demonstrated that each alkanolamineborate consists of many substances, which differed in part between different alkanolamineborates. The present study shows that it is not possible to use 1 particular alkanolamineborate for tracing contact allergy to alkanolamineborates in general.

Extended tracking of the microbial community structure and dynamics in an industrial synthetic metalworking fluid system

“…Contaminated MWFs pose health hazards and may cause a variety of diseases in exposed machinists (Sandin et al, 1990;Bruze et al, 1995;Kreiss & Cox-Ganser, present (Mattsby-Baltzer et al, 1989b;Lange et al, 1997), additional classical tools such as microscopy-based direct count method Lange et al, 1997;Selvaraju et al, 2008a) have been adapted to estimate the total concentration of microorganisms in MWF. In addition, understanding the types of microorganisms colonizing these fluids is critical as certain MWF-associated microbial groups may produce potent antigens as demonstrated for Mycobacterium immunogenum in our studies (Gupta et al, 2009).…”

Allergic contact dermatitis from a condensate of boric acid, monoethanolamine and fatty acids in a metalworking fluid

“…Alkanolamineborates may be present in such condensates, these being condensation products of boric acid and mono‐, di‐, or triethanolamine, and used as corrosion inhibitors and preservatives in metalworking fluids. Cases of allergic contact dermatitis from these compounds have been described (1), however, it is not known if the allergen(s) in the present case is the same as previously reported. Extensive chemical analysis and subsequent testing with fractions would be needed to answer this question.…”

Relationships among Fluid Ethanolamine Formulation, Airborne Ethanolamines, and Aerosol Levels in Machining Operations

“…In addition, fluid aerosol can be generated by condensation occurring as soon as the fluids vaporize, due to the extreme heat generated in metalworking operations. The airborne generation of EAs during machining operations is less well understood, despite the results of several studies showing that exposure to EAs in metalworking fluids can induce acute allergic responses, including asthma (Savonius et al, 1994;Bruze et al, 1995;Piipari et al, 1998;Sandin et al, 1990;Suuronen et al, 2007;Anderson et al, 2009;Lessmann et al, 2009). To the best of our knowledge, only airborne TEA exposure levels, and not those of MEA and DEA, have been reported in automotive parts manufacturing plants that use wbMWFs (Kenyon et al, 1993).…”