History and Results of the Two Inter-Laboratory Round Robin Endotoxin Assay Studies on Cotton Dust

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bartlett K ; Brown, Mary E. ; Chun DT ; Gordon T ; Gunn VS ; Jacobs RR ; Larsson BM ; Larsson L ; Lewis, Daniel M. ; Liesivuori J ; Michel O ; Milton DK ; Rylander R ; Thorne PS ; White EM ; Wurtz H
• Description:
  In the US cotton industry, airborne cotton dust levels are regulated, and other countries are moving to specify safety limits for airborne endotoxins. There is concern about potential respiratory health hazards associated with agricultural and other organic dusts. In laboratories, ranking which samples have high and low levels of endotoxin is usually in good agreement between laboratories. When different laboratories assay identical samples, the levels differ. The objective of this research was to evaluate the intra- and inter-laboratory variability for 13 laboratories measuring endotoxin in cotton dust. Two inter-laboratory round robin endotoxin assay studies were conducted using cotton dust. In the first round robin, each laboratory used their normal in-house assay method and then used a common extraction protocol. In the second round robin, a common extraction protocol and endotoxin assay kit was used. The intra-laboratory results had small variations but inter-laboratory results had very high variations. The inter-laboratory results using a common extraction protocol showed reduced differences. Using the same extraction protocol and endotoxin assay kit, the intra-laboratory variation was small and inter-laboratory variation was reduced but not enough for inter-laboratory agreement. Most of the laboratories were able to discern between the high and low endotoxin concentration dusts. Standardization has reduced the differences in results between laboratories and possibly further standardization may bring closer inter-laboratory agreement. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Air Pollutants, Occupational Dust Endotoxins Gossypium Hazardous Substances Laboratories Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety

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• Keywords:
  Agricultural-industry Airborne-dusts Airborne-particles Cotton-dust Cotton-industry Dust-particles Dusts Health-hazards Laboratory-testing Organic-dusts Respiratory-system-disorders Sampling Sampling-methods

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• ISSN:
  0271-3586
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DART - Division of Applied Research and Technology
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  301-306
• Volume:
  49
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20030073
• Citation:
  Am J Ind Med 2006 Apr; 49(4):301-306
• Contact Point Address:
  David T.W. Chun, Microbiologist, Cotton Quality Research Station, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 1574, Clemson, SC, 29633
• Email:
  dtwchun@mindspring.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• NORA Priority Area:
  Research Tools and Approaches: Exposure Assessment Methods
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  American Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:bc31e92ebc0f6efb05896ec0f58d3edee37bfd544bb4fab17a951dae3dd8e0a83abcba4d5e435fe0386beaf2865a546c0f48a181bcadcddec6637b251698eede
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/190909/cdc_190909_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 101.78 KB ]