Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-87-311-2087: Penick Corporation; Newark, New Jersey

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fidler, Anne T. ; Fleeger, Alan K. ; Klincewicz, Stephen L. ; Siwinski, Gregory
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the International Chemical Workers Union to evaluate symptoms of headache, nausea, and respiratory symptoms among workers, an investigation was begun of possible hazardous working conditions at the Penick Corporation (SIC-2833), Newark, New Jersey. This company produced morphine, codeine, synthetic and semisynthetic narcotics from the raw materials gum opium and poppy straw concentrate. Industrial hygiene monitoring detected substantial exposures to alkaloid dusts throughout the building. A concentration as high as 23,564 micrograms/cubic meter was detected in a short-term sample collected during the hand scooping of dry powder. Over exposures were detected to toluene (108883), butanol (71363), methanol (67561), and ethanol (64175) during short term episodic jobs. Thirty-two current employees participated in a study of immunologic parameters. A significant decrease in morphine-6-hemisuccinate/human serum albumin immunoglobulin-G antibody levels was noted in 21 workers who submitted blood specimens during both test periods. Narcotic production workers had greater reactivity to most of the compounds on a quantitative skin prick test with opiates. The authors conclude that workers at Penick Corporation developed asthma from occupational exposure to narcotic dusts. The authors recommend that exposures to narcotic dusts and solvents be reduced, and that workers with suspected work-related illnesses be evaluated.
• Subjects:
  Asthma Asthma, Occupational Hypersensitivity Immune System Lung Occupational Health Pharmacies Respiratory System Safety Solvents
• Keywords:
  Atopy Hazard-Confirmed HETA-87-311-2087 Immune-reaction Immunology Medicinal Chemicals And Botanical Products Morphine Narcotic Dusts NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Occupational Asthma Organic-solvents OSHA Region 2 Pharmaceutical-industry Pharmaceutical Preparations Solvent-vapors

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA873112087
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  49 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  Collins, Jim ; Gupta, Suresh ; Gallagher, Joan ; Bernstein, David M. ; Mittman, Robert
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00200325
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB91-238188
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, Ohio: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 87-311-2087, 1990 Nov ; :1-59
• CAS Registry Number:
  Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3) ; n-Butanol (CAS RN 71-36-3) ; Methanol (CAS RN 67-56-1) ; Ethanol (CAS RN 64-17-5)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1991
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2833 - Medicinals and botanicals - (SIC) ; 2834 - Pharmaceutical preparations - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b5d044fd0b6ac49a4630670ac5bfc1f1e0e5e2484553b63424687679bf3b462efce9c4fd325420525a24fdbda335f6c19da9109aaf4a65d9275db1694a32c807
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/171664/cdc_171664_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 225.50 KB ]