Occupational exposure to estrogens: a report of two pilot medical and industrial hygiene surveys.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Tanaka, Shiro ; Zaebst DD
• Description:
  Worker exposures to estrogen (57636) were surveyed at two pharmaceutical companies (SIC-2834). Company 1 produced tablets containing natural, conjugated estrogens and employed about 840 workers; 75 were involved in the manufacture of estrogenic products, and 30 of those 75 were intermittently exposed to natural conjugated estrogens. Company 2 produced oral contraceptives containing mestranol (72333) and norethindrone (68224), and employed about 1200 workers; 200 to 250 were involved in the manufacture of estrogenic products. Personal and area air samples and skin wipe samples were collected. Several workers completed medical questionnaires, and blood chemistry and estrogen values were determined. At Company 1, airborne concentrations of total conjugated estrogens ranged from 0.48 to 5.32 micrograms per cubic meter (microg/m3). At Company 2, mean concentrations of mestranol ranged from 0.052 to 1.04microg/m3. Estrogens were found on skin wipe samples. At Company 1, exposed workers had higher hematocrit values and lower antithrombin III values than unexposed workers. At Company 2, blood ethynylestradiol values increased over successive work days. The authors conclude that some exposures to estrogens exist, but exposures do not appear to be clinically significant. A full scale medical/industrial hygiene survey is not warranted, but work practices and control technologies should be evaluated.
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Air Pollutants, Occupational Air Pollution, Indoor Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Lung Diseases Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Rubber Safety
• Keywords:
  Control-methods Employee-exposure Environmental-surveys Estrogens Health-hazards Hormones Industrial-hygiene Industrial-medicine Occupational-exposure Pharmaceutical-industry Safety-practices Toxic-effects Work-environment

  More +
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Other
• Place as Subject:
  California ; New York ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 2 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• 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:
  1-63
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20036328
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1984 Jun; :1-63
• CAS Registry Number:
  Ethinylestradiol (CAS RN 57-63-6) ; Mestranol (CAS RN 72-33-3) ; Norethindrone (CAS RN 68-22-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1984
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  2834 - Pharmaceutical preparations - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:f71e9cebf1ecb4212112a9d7259860db8e6a0725f89b72442adc7e786e246fbfda8634ee9ae17b03f801c41d5828387851501a6aa1c6743bbed0e06c34e54661
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/181556/cdc_181556_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 20.74 MB ]