Ubiquitous fiber exposure in selected sampling sites in Europe.

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_5258
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Publication sub-type
Case report (case report): feedback on an observation with a short commentary.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Ubiquitous fiber exposure in selected sampling sites in Europe.
Journal
Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment and Health
Author(s)
Schneider T., Burdett G., Martinon L., Brochard P., Guillemin Michel, Teichert U., Draeger U.
ISSN
0355-3140
Publication state
Published
Issued date
1996
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
22
Number
4
Pages
274-284
Language
english
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: This study evaluates personal exposure to respirable inorganic and organic fibers during normal human lifetimes and assesses the order of magnitude of the contribution of inorganic fibers other than asbestos to total fiber exposure from man-made and natural sources. METHODS: Four groups (suburban schoolchildren, rural retired persons, office workers, and taxi drivers), with five persons per group, were monitored for 24 h four times during one year. Personal sampling pumps collected airborne dust on gold-precoated Nuclepore filters. The fibers were analyzed for fiber sizes specified by the World Health Organization. RESULTS: The geometric mean concentrations ranged from 9000 fibers.m-3 (office workers) to 20000 fibers.m-3 (schoolchildren) for organic fibers, and from 600 fibers.m-3 (taxi drivers) to 4000 fibers.m-3 (schoolchildren) for gypsum fibers. For other inorganic fibers the concentrations were around 5000 fibers.m-3. The contribution of fibers with an elemental composition similar to that of man-made vitreous fibers (MMVF) was less than about one-quarter of the content of other inorganic fibers. The fiber size distributions were uniform across the groups, and the organic fibers were the longest and thinnest nonasbestos fibers. CONCLUSIONS: Lifetime exposure to fibers can be ranked as organic fibers > other inorganic fibers > fibers with an elemental composition similar to MMVF > MMVF. Information on the biological effects of fibers is difficult to interpret for use in assessing the health risk from exposure to low levels of ubiquitous fibers, and there is a lack of knowledge on the effects of organic fibers.
Keywords
Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Air Pollutants/adverse effects, Air Pollutants/analysis, Air Pollution, Indoor/adverse effects, Air Pollution, Indoor/analysis, Environmental Exposure/adverse effects, Environmental Exposure/analysis, Environmental Monitoring, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Mineral Fibers/adverse effects, Mineral Fibers/analysis, Occupational Exposure/adverse effects, Occupational Exposure/analysis, Risk Factors
Pubmed
Web of science
Create date
19/11/2007 12:41
Last modification date
20/08/2019 14:07
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