Evolving the Use of Respiratory Irritation as a Health Endpoint in Occupational Risk Assessments

Details

• Personal Author:
  Frank E ; Niemeier T ; Whittaker C
• Description:
  The effects of occupational irritant exposures are of major importance to public health. Approximately 40% of the exposure limit values for agents listed in the current NIOSH Pocket Guide are estimated based on exposure thresholds for respiratory irritation. Respiratory irritation signs and symptoms include rhinorrhea (runny nose), coughing, and airway obstruction and accompanying exposure levels can coincide with sensory irritation responses in other tissues such as stinging and burning in the eyes and skin. Inhalation and dermal exposure to irritants is highly relevant to the use of solvents, catalysts, cleaners, fragrances, and many other agents extensively utilized in workplaces and industrial processes. Despite this, existing guidelines to assess and characterize irritation hazards are limited by inadequate testing methods, poor mode-of-action knowledge, and outdated risk characterizations. NIOSH is responding to these gaps with coordinated efforts across the agency and collaborating partners to meet scientific needs in the following specific areas: 1) Assessing the relationship between sensory irritation responses and traditional respiratory toxicity endpoints in animals (i.e., respiratory depression, airway histopathology, corrosion, inflammatory activation); 2) Investigating the utility of in vitro tests for generating irritation toxicity data using primary tissue and cultured cell lines: 3) Developing updated protocols for evaluating irritation toxicity data and integrating existing hazard information to derive exposure limit values, including recommended exposure limits, short-term exposure limits, and ceiling/immediately-dangerous-to-life-and-health (IDLH) values; and 4) Investigating the toxicological mechanisms targeted by irritants and working towards a consistent understanding of the adverse outcome pathways involved. These efforts will address occupational health needs by increasing the prevalence, quality, and utility of irritation toxicity data and improving the efficiency and accuracy of risk assessments for irritation hazards. In addition, these outcomes will be of scientific benefit to consumer product safety, environmental health in industry-adjacent communities, and numerous other public health needs arising from exposure to chemical irritants. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Cells, Cultured Hazardous Substances Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Public Health Quality Control Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Safety Toxicology
• Keywords:
  Cell Cultures Cell Culture Techniques Chemical Hazards Data Processing Exposure Assessment Exposure Limits Hazard Communication Hazard Identification IDLH Immediately Dangerous To Life Or Health Information Dissemination Information Systems In Vitro Studies Medical Research Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Partnership Public Health Quality Control Quality Standards Recommended Exposure Limits RELs Respiratory Irritants Respiratory System Disorders Risk Assessment Sensory Thresholds Short Term Exposure Tissue Culture Toxic Dose Toxic Effects

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• ISSN:
  1096-6080
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSI - Division of Science Integration
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  174
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20058874
• Citation:
  Toxicologist 2020 Mar; 174(1):130
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  The Toxicologist. Society of Toxicology 59th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, March 15-19, 2020, Anaheim, California
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:8016e842a11503895da981c8dacf4260f42bbbb9f3656d629fb50e91f896071c9cf39d2f32cf4d62a6e48eee4e99cce12315654507d7c175dbd3ecf86636bb2b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/223249/cdc_223249_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 521.67 KB ]