| Title: | "Assessment of exposure of gas station attendants in Sri Lanka to benzene, toluene and xylenes" |
| Author(s): | Scheepers PTJ; de Werdt L; van Dael M; Anzion R; Vanoirbeek J; Duca RC; Creta M; Godderis L; Warnakulasuriya DTD; Devanarayana NM; |
| Address: | "Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: paul.scheepers@radboudumc.nl. Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboudumc, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Centre for Environment and Health, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Centre for Environment and Health, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; IDEWE, External Service for Prevention and Protection at Work, Heverlee, Belgium. Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Thalagaolla Raod, Ragama, 11010, Sri Lanka" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.envres.2019.108670 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1096-0953 (Electronic) 0013-9351 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Exposure to benzene, toluene and p-, m-, o-xylene (BTX) was studied in 29 gas station attendants and 16 office workers in Sri Lanka. The aim of this study was to assess the exposure level and identify potential exposure mitigating measures. Pre- and post-shift samples of end-exhaled air were collected and analysed for BTX on a thermal desorption gas chromatography mass spectrometry system (TD-GC-MS). Urine was collected at the same timepoints and analysed for a metabolite of benzene, S-phenyl mercapturic acid (SPMA), using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Environmental exposure was measured by personal air sampling and analysed by gas chromatography flame ionization detection (GC-FID). Median (range) breathing zone air concentrations were 609 (65.1-1960) mug/m(3) for benzene and 746 (<5.0-2770) mug/m(3) for toluene. Taking into account long working hours, 28% of the measured exposures exceeded the ACGIH threshold limit value (TLV) for an 8-h time-weighted average of 1.6?ª+mg/m(3) for benzene. Xylene isomers were not detected. End-exhaled air concentrations were significantly increased for gas station attendants compared to office workers (p?ª+ |
| Keywords: | "Air Pollutants, Occupational/*analysis *Benzene Environmental Monitoring Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Humans Occupational Exposure/*statistics & numerical data Sri Lanka Toluene/analysis Xylenes/analysis Exhaled air Gasoline Occupational hygiene U;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineScheepers, Paul T J de Werdt, Laurie van Dael, Maurice Anzion, Rob Vanoirbeek, Jeroen Duca, Radu Corneliu Creta, Matteo Godderis, Lode Warnakulasuriya, D T D Devanarayana, Niranga Manjuri eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Netherlands 2019/09/01 Environ Res. 2019 Nov; 178:108670. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.108670. Epub 2019 Aug 19" |
