Wipe sampling to assess pesticide exposures on skin: preliminary method evaluation

Details

• Personal Author:
  Boeniger, Mark F. ; Carreon T ; Nishioka M ; Sanderson, Wayne T.
• Description:
  Background: Skin exposures to pesticides in agriculture are considered to be the primary route of worker contact. However, there remains a paucity of data about how to quantify and interpret sampling results. A preliminary range finding and method evaluation survey was recently performed in California in preparation for a larger study to determine exposure reduction intervention effectiveness. Methods: Hand wipes (using the NHEXAS isopropanol moistened J&J Sof-Wick gauze wipe method consisting of 2 consecutive wipes) were obtained during harvesting of a strawberry field that had been previously sprayed with malathion. Various approaches were used that would provide useful information for a larger study. Results: Mean whole hand pre-wash and post wash malathion loading (n=6) was 6696 ng and 2469 ng, representing a 63% reduction of surface hand concentration, while mean digit pre-wash and post-wash malathion loading (n=6) was 1312 ng and 893 ng, for a 32% reduction, respectively. Consecutive wiping of contaminated skin did not indicate highly efficient removal with each wipe. Average decline was 47% for 2nd digit wipe and 37% for 3rd digit wipe. Conclusions: The EPA hand wiping method did not apparently efficiently remove the amount of malathion loading present either before or after washing, although when loading was low (as when wearing gloves) removal appeared complete. Perhaps alternative sampling methods are more efficient, but this would need to be similarly evaluated. Efficiency of skin sampling methods and comparison to other methods continues to be a significant need in exposure assessment characterization. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Agriculture Insecticides Men Occupational Health Safety Skin Skin Absorption Women
• Keywords:
  Agricultural-chemicals Agricultural-workers Exposure-levels Humans Pesticides Pesticides-and-agricultural-chemicals Sampling Skin-absorption Skin-exposure Statistical-analysis
• Publisher:
  American Industrial Hygiene Association
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Ohio ; OSHA Region 3 ; OSHA Region 5 ; West Virginia
• 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:
  71
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20041443
• Citation:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, June 2-7, 2001, New Orleans, Louisiana. Fairfax, VA: American Industrial Hygiene Association, 2001 Jun; :71
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2001
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition, June 2-7, 2001, New Orleans, Louisiana
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a84e94c7e7cdfe0eed167c9892a8304d508d6a91f867c82867d45495527776eb1ff243926570a2aa4ac2e89822734b7ce6d34a3985d9c797c8643fdbd202c835
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194014/cdc_194014_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 190.22 KB ]