Acute Symptoms Due to MTBE While Driving

Details

• Personal Author:
  Fiedler N ; McNeil KK ; Mohr SN
• Description:
  Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) is an additive to gasoline to decrease winter time carbon monoxide emissions from automobile exhaust. Little is known about acute health effects from environmental exposures to MTBE. We performed cross-sectional studies in two separate cohorts: (1) state workers who spent more than 25 hours per week driving in their cars and (2) a group of older (>50 years) men, to assess acute symptoms due to MTBE exposure. Twenty-nine workers during high MTBE exposure and 25 workers during low MTBE exposure were surveyed regarding symptoms they had experienced while driving and fueling their vehicles. No statistical differences were found in comparing seven symptoms including headache, nausea, cough, drowsiness, eye, nose and throat irritation (all symptoms separately and aggregately) between the two groups (p>0.05). In comparing symptoms across the work shift between the groups, no differences were found (p>0.05). To see if older individuals might be more susceptible to symptoms following exposure to MTBE, a cohort of 107 white men (age range 50-84) were surveyed for symptoms. When stratified by the number of hours per week spent in an automobile and by age, no differences were found in rates of symptom reporting (p>0.05). Despite reports of case-control studies of similar symptom complexes attributed to the addition of MTBE to fuels in other communities (Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska and Stamford, Connecticut), those results could not be duplicated in this study; indeed, overall symptom reporting was quite low even among the retired older men so that the "healthy worker effect" was thought to be an unlikely explanation for this phenomenon. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Automobiles Cohort Studies Environmental Exposure Occupational Health Safety Vehicle Emissions
• Keywords:
  Automotive Exhausts Chemicals Cohort Studies Environmental Exposure Gasoline Health Effects
• ISSN:
  1044-3983
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  New Jersey ; New York ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  6
• Issue:
  4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20059967
• Citation:
  Epidemiology 1995 Jul; 6(4)(Suppl):S17
• CAS Registry Number:
  tert-Butyl methyl ether (CAS RN 1634-04-4)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Performing Organization:
  Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  19920701
• Source Full Name:
  Epidemiology. Program and abstracts: annual conference of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology and the International Society for Exposure Analysis, August 30-September 1, 1995, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands
• Supplement:
  Supplement
• End Date:
  19970630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7b3ee73b8642afb74e95fe8e8d9b2fb9f154be6f0860b7c5f2813320438a8e927942bb08d67ad1411b076e8ccead23d3fce6bca55283be3679cc19d9849d30ec
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/224016/cdc_224016_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 534.91 KB ]