Title: | Handheld two-stroke engines as an important source of personal VOC exposure for olive farm workers |
Author(s): | Ari A; Ari PE; Ilhan SO; Gaga EO; |
Address: | "Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu, Turkey. akifari@ibu.edu.tr. Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu, Turkey. Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Eskisehir Technical University, 26555, Eskisehir, Turkey" |
Journal Title: | Environ Sci Pollut Res Int |
DOI: | 10.1007/s11356-022-21378-5 |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1614-7499 (Electronic) 0944-1344 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Personal exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is mainly associated with indoor exposures; however, elevated short-term exposures may also occur during ambient activities. Handheld two-stroke gasoline-powered engines have widespread use in agriculture, but so far, no studies have been conducted on the potential health risks due to the inhalation of emitted VOCs. A one-week passive sampling has been conducted on olive farm workers during the harvesting season to monitor personal exposure levels to VOCs. The first group of workers was selected to represent the contribution of gasoline-powered shaker to daily personal VOC exposures, and one another group of workers was selected as the control, whose have not been using the device. Higher concentrations of 1-pentene, n-hexane, isopentane, n-pentene, and toluene were observed in personal samples collected from machine operators. Personal exposure concentrations of a total of 45 monitored VOCs varied between 29.2 +/- 10.7 and 3733.4 +/- 3300.1 microg m(-3) among 20 volunteer workers. Estimated carcinogenic risks were between the acceptable levels of 10(-4) and 10(-6) for all workers. All individual chronic HQs and HIs (as the sum of individual HQs) were below the benchmark value of 1 for regular workers in 3 different sampling sites, whereas HI values in both acute (short term) and chronic exposure scenarios were exceeded 1 for shaker machine operators. This represented potential non-carcinogenic health hazards for exposed shaker operators, along with elevated VOCs" |
Keywords: | Humans *Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis *Air Pollutants/analysis Gasoline *Olea Pentanes Farmers *Stroke Toluene Alkenes Environmental Monitoring Agricultural VOC exposure Health risk assessment Olive farm workers Personal VOC exposure Two-stroke engi; |
Notes: | "MedlineAri, Akif Ari, Pelin Erturk Ilhan, Soner Ozenc Gaga, Eftade O eng Germany 2022/06/15 Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2022 Nov; 29(52):78711-78725. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-21378-5. Epub 2022 Jun 14" |