Monitoring Occupational Exposure to Ethylene Oxide by the Determination of Hemoglobin Adducts

In a study on workers in a chemical plant where ethylene oxide (EtO) is manufactured and partly used for ethylene glycol production, exposure to EtO was monitored during annual periodic health assessments in January 1988, December 1988, and March 1990 by the determination of the level of 2-hydroxyet...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnvironmental health perspectives Vol. 99; pp. 217 - 220
Main Authors van Sittert, Nico J., Gerard D. J. Beulink, Erik W. N. van Vliet, van der Waal, Henk
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. National Institutes of Health. Department of Health, Education and Welfare 01.03.1993
Subjects
Adducts
Assessment of Carcinogen Exposure and the Use of Other Risk Markers in Populations
Blood
Chemical hazards
Chemical Industry
Chemical plants
Cigarette smoking
Cigarettes
Control groups
Environmental Monitoring
Erythrocytes
Ethylene Oxide - administration & dosage
Ethylene Oxide - adverse effects
Ethylene Oxide - blood
Hemoglobins
Hemoglobins - drug effects
Hemoglobins - metabolism
Humans
Occupational Exposure
Oxides
Valine - analogs & derivatives
Valine - blood
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Summary:In a study on workers in a chemical plant where ethylene oxide (EtO) is manufactured and partly used for ethylene glycol production, exposure to EtO was monitored during annual periodic health assessments in January 1988, December 1988, and March 1990 by the determination of the level of 2-hydroxyethylvaline (HOEtVal) in hemoglobin. The HOEtVal levels in workers corresponded with the potential EtO exposures. The highest level was found in December 1988, in blood samples collected 1-2 months after a shut-down, maintenance, and start-up program. The range of adduct levels found in the three examinations indicated that average EtO exposures during the 4 months preceding blood sampling were below 0.5 ppm. It was demonstrated that the method allows for the accurate monitoring of low levels of EtO exposure and provides personalized time-integrated exposure data with great discriminative power. In addition, the method may serve to identify unexpected personal exposures, which may lead to targeted exposure control measures.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:0091-6765
1552-9924
DOI:10.1289/ehp.9399217