Reconstruction of occupational mercury exposures at a chloralkali plant

Williams, Phillip L.; Frumkin, Howard; Pierce, Marsha L.; Manning, Claudine C.; Elon, Lisa; Sanders, Amanda

doi:10.1136/oem.58.2.81

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…We used three metrics of exposure: average exposure (in micrograms per cubic meter), cumulative exposure (in micrograms per cubic meter per year), and peak exposure (in micrograms per cubic meter). Mercury exposure had been high in the cell room and in other parts of the plant, with air levels averaging above 100 µg/m 3 for some employees (43), comparable to the exposures reported from contemporary chloralkali plants (44)(45)(46).…”

Section: Study Subjectssupporting

confidence: 57%

“…We also identified the air mercury exposure levels at each part of the plant, for each job title, for each year of the plant's operation. These estimates, generated from historical air sampling data, were validated by comparison with available urinary mercury sampling and with modeled air levels based on mercury throughput data and room air change parameters (43). We then created a jobexposure-year matrix and reconstructed an exposure profile for each former employee.…”

Section: Study Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diagnostic Chelation Challenge with DMSA: A Biomarker of Long-Term Mercury Exposure?

Frumkin¹,

Manning²,

Williams³

et al. 2001

Environmental Health Perspectives

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ArticlesChelation challenge testing has been used to assess the body burden of various metals. The bestknown example is EDTA challenge in lead-exposed individuals. This study assessed diagnostic chelation challenge with dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) as a measure of mercury body burden among mercury-exposed workers. Former employees at a chloralkali plant, for whom detailed exposure histories were available (n = 119), and unexposed controls (n = 101) completed 24-hr urine collections before and after the administration of two doses of DMSA, 10 mg/kg. The urinary response to DMSA was measured as both the absolute change and the relative change in mercury excretion. The average 24-hr mercury excretion was 4.3 µg/24 hr before chelation, and 7.8 µg/24 hr after chelation. There was no association between past occupational mercury exposure and the urinary excretion of mercury either before or after DMSA administration. There was also no association between urinary mercury excretion and the number of dental amalgam surfaces, in contrast to recent published results. We believe the most likely reason that DMSA chelation challenge failed to reflect past mercury exposure was the elapsed time (several years) since the exposure had ended. These results provide normative values for urinary mercury excretion both before and after DMSA challenge, and suggest that DMSA chelation challenge is not useful as a biomarker of past mercury exposure. EHP puts even more environmental health information right at your fingertips!EHP online articles contain convenient l li in nk ks s t to o P Pu ub bM Me ed d-the National Library of Medicine's free online search service of more than 9 million citations! Search MEDLINE and Pre-MEDLINE (including links to other online journals and databases) for information directly related to each EHP article's topic! Subscribe to EHP today at http://ehis.niehs.nih.gov/

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Section: Study Subjectssupporting

confidence: 57%

Section: Study Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnostic Chelation Challenge with DMSA: A Biomarker of Long-Term Mercury Exposure?

Frumkin¹,

Manning²,

Williams³

et al. 2001

Environmental Health Perspectives

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“…Among the 24 of 58 workers (41%) who worked in the cell room, mean U Hg was 281 μg/g creatinine, roughly equivalent to 393 μg/L. And, as described in Williams et al (2001), Hg 0 air levels peaked in 1987 and then declined during 1988-91; cell room Air Hg during those three years were 24-45% lower than in the years immediately before and after.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…Individual exposures from 1956-1994 were reconstructed using a job-exposure matrix (JEM) that incorporated direct-read area air samples data obtained by plant personnel (‘about 25,000′ samples over 488 separate days between 1967 and 1993), and 48 personal samples obtained over 15 days in 1988, 1990 and 1992 by OSHA, NIOSH, and Duke University researchers (Williams et al 2001). However, for 20 of the 38 study years there were no air Hg data; instead, exposure data for those years were ‘interpolated from the earlier and later years based on employee account of factory conditions…’ (Williams et al 2001, p.82).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, for 20 of the 38 study years there were no air Hg data; instead, exposure data for those years were ‘interpolated from the earlier and later years based on employee account of factory conditions…’ (Williams et al 2001, p.82). Exposures were characterized in terms of mean exposure (2-106 μg/m 3 ), cumulative exposure (1.9-904.7 μg/m 3 -years) and peak (also referred to as ‘maximum’) exposure (7-147 μg/m 3 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Persistence of mercury-induced motor and sensory neurotoxicity: systematic review of workers previously exposed to mercury vapor

Fields¹,

Borak

Louis

2017

Critical Reviews in Toxicology

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Background Elemental mercury (Hg0) is a well-recognized neurotoxicant, but it is uncertain whether and for how long its neurotoxicity persists. Among studies that evaluated previously-exposed workers, only one examined workers during and also years after exposure had ceased. Objective To create a series of ‘synthetic’ longitudinal studies to address the question of persistence of Hg0 neurotoxicity in occupationally exposed workers. Methods We systematically reviewed studies describing objective motor and sensory effects in previously-exposed mercury workers. Data from physical examination (PE), neurobehavioral (NB) tests and electrophysiological studies were extracted into structured tables and examined for their consistency and dose-relatedness and then compared with the corresponding results from studies of currently-exposed workers. Results We identified six cohorts that described neurological findings in 1299 workers, examined an average of 4.8 to 30 years after the cessation of exposure. Historical group mean UHg levels ranged from 23 to >500 μg/L, with UHg levels >6000 μg/L in some individuals. Overall, few findings were significant; most were inconsistent across the remote-exposure studies, and in comparisons between studies of remotely- and currently-exposed workers. Conclusion The results of this systematic review indicate that Hg0-related neurotoxic effects detectable on PE, NB testing, and EPS are substantially reversed over time. To the extent that such effects do persist, they are reported principally in workers who have had very high dose exposures. In addition, based on limited available data, those effects reported to persist have been described as having little or no functional significance.

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Sex, gender and women's occupational health: The importance of considering mechanism

Messing

Stellman

2006

Environmental Research

157

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A number of researchers have pointed out that less is known about occupational determinants of health in women than in men. The authors examine inventories of ongoing Canadian research and of recent scientific publications in order to identify trends in the approaches used to study women's occupational health (WOH). We also consider conceptual issues in the treatment of the sex and gender of subjects. We observe that women have been the subject of relatively few investigations of occupational health in the natural or biomedical sciences and that studies of WOH have concentrated on the health care professions and on psychosocial stressors, with a deficit in toxicological and physiological studies. We use recent studies of mercury exposure in chloralkali process plants and of musculoskeletal disorders among office workers to provide specific examples of problems in conceptualizing WOH. We propose that WOH be studied more often, especially by researchers in the natural and biomedical sciences, and that such studies include both women and men, where possible, and consider the complex relationships of gender and sex to the pathways involved. More interdisciplinary research would facilitate this process, since social researchers have tended to focus more on gender/sex issues. Our findings demonstrate that it is necessary to explore the implications of using sex routinely as an explanatory variable in occupational health research and to increase emphasis on the mechanisms involved in any sex or gender differences sought or found. From an equity perspective, it is also important to situate biological sex differences so as to prevent them from being used erroneously to justify job segregation or inequitable health promotion measures.

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Reconstruction of occupational mercury exposures at a chloralkali plant

Abstract: (Occup Environ Med 2001;58:81-86)

Cited by 6 publications

References 10 publications

Diagnostic Chelation Challenge with DMSA: A Biomarker of Long-Term Mercury Exposure?

Diagnostic Chelation Challenge with DMSA: A Biomarker of Long-Term Mercury Exposure?

Persistence of mercury-induced motor and sensory neurotoxicity: systematic review of workers previously exposed to mercury vapor

Sex, gender and women's occupational health: The importance of considering mechanism

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