Assessing hospital employee PCDD/PCDF/coplanar PCB exposure from a medical waste incinerator.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gilroy D ; Heunann M ; Mortimer, Vincent D. ; Needham L ; Patterson DG Jr. ; Turner W
• Description:
  Medical waste incinerator emissions are an important source of environmental PCDDs/PCDFs and may pose a significant health risk to local populations. In the present study, hospital employees who were considered most likely to have had the greatest exposure to the hospital's MWI emissions were identified and serum from these employees was analyzed for PCDDs/PCDFs/cPCBs. Results show that the employees' serum PCDD/PCDF/cPCB levels are within the range of background serum levels found in the U.S. and do not reflect excessive PCDD/PCDF/cPCB exposure. Based on these findings, it is likely that other employees at the hospital who had similar or less exposure to incinerator emissions would also not have elevated PCDD/PCDF/cPCB levels. Though it is possible that some of the hospital employees' past health problems (e.g. headaches, respiratory effects) may have resulted from exposure to MWI emissions, concerns regarding excessive PCDD/PCDF exposure appear to be unfounded. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Dioxins Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Exposure-levels; Exposure-assessment; Information-systems; Dioxins; Analytical-processes
• ISBN:
  0964129337
• Publisher:
  Symposium Secretariat, DIOXIN '97
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Proceedings
• Place as Subject:
  Indiana ; Ohio ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DPSE - Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  394-397
• Volume:
  33
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20036369
• Citation:
  Organohalogen Compounds. Dioxin '97: 17th International Symposium on Chlorinated Dioxins and Related Compounds, Indianapolis, Indiana, August 25-29, 1997. Volume 3: Toxaphene Transport and Fate Ecotoxicology Human Exposure. Hites RA, ed., Bloomington, IN: Symposium Secretariat, DIOXIN '97, 1997 Aug; 33:394-397
• Contact Point Address:
  D. Gilroy, Oregon Health Division, 800 NE Oregon Street, Suite 608, Portland, Oregon 97232
• Editor(s):
  Hites RA
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1997
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  Organohalogen Compounds. Dioxin '97: 17th International Symposium on Chlorinated Dioxins and Related Compounds, Indianapolis, Indiana, August 25-29, 1997. Volume 3: Toxaphene Transport and Fate Ecotoxicology Human Exposure
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/245849/cdc_245849_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]