Occupational toxicology sources

Source Reproduced with permission from Occupational Toxicology, 2nd ed., ed. C. Winder et al. (Boca Raton, FL CRC Press, 2004). 

Phase II Find out all occupational toxicology data from available sources, treating the route of exposure as highly significant. 

Workers in the metals treatment industry are exposed to fumes, dusts, and mists containing metals and metal compounds, as well as to various chemicals from sources such as grinding wheels and lubricants. Exposure can be by inhalation, ingestion, or skin contact. Historically, metal toxicology was concerned with overt effects such as abdominal coHc from lead toxicity. Because of the occupational health and safety standards of the 1990s such effects are rare. Subtie, chronic, or long-term effects of metals treatment exposure are under study. An index to safety precautions for various metal treatment processes is available (6). As additional information is gained, standards are adjusted. 

Environmental Quality. The abstracts come from journals or digests published by CSA on important issues including environmental pollution, toxicological studies of industrial chemicals, ecological impacts of biologically active chemicals, as well as health, safety, and risk management in occupational situations. The POLTOX CD-ROM contains over 200,000 records from these sources since 1981. 

Occupational and toxicological studies have demonstrated adverse health effects from exposure to toxic contaminants. Emissions data from stationary and mobile sources are used in an atmospheric dispersion model to estimate outdoor concentrations of 148 toxic contaminants for each of the 60,803 census tracts in the contiguous United States for 1990. Approximately 10% of all census tracts had estimated concentrations of one or more carcinogenic HAPs at a greater than l-in-10,000 risk level. Twenty-two pollutants with chronic toxicity benchmark concentrations had modeled concentrations in excess of these benchmarks, and approximately 200 census tracts had a modeled concentration 100 times the benchmark for at least one of these pollutants. This comprehensive assessment of air toxics concentrations across the United States indicates hazardous air pollutants may pose a potential public health problem (Woodruff et al., 1998). 

Professional literature should be reviewed. Manuals of analytical methods ( 1,2) describe various sampling scenarios and considerations. Overview references (3) discussing processes similar to the one proposed for study may also be available. Professional publications e.g., The Journal of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, Journal of Occupational Medicine, may outline specific aspects of the process to be studied. Toxicological texts (4,.5,.6 7) provide information about potentially hazardous agents. These sources can provide information about the character of exposure, and their relative expected concentration or intensity, and methods previously used for detection, sampling and analysis. 

This title contains information on toxicology, occupational health, and environmental information with a focus on emergency situations of exposure and hazard control. It also addresses ergonomics and human health risk assessment. It contains bibliographic, full text, and numeric information. Consists of eleven files of information from various government sources - US EPA, OSTIA, DOT, Coast Guard, NIOSH, and others. Updated quarterly. Produced by Micromedex, Inc. 

Proceedings of the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics (AOEC) Workshop on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Toxicology and Environmental Health, Vol, 8, No. 4, July-August, 1992. (The definition for MCS is from the article by Ross on pg. 21. This book is the proceedings of a technical conference on MCS. This was a major reference source for technical material in this chapter. It should be contrasted with popular books whose message is very different.)... 

Data from both human and animal exposures are frequently used in the risk assessment of chemical exposures [12]. Most toxicity data are obtained from animal studies. Human data sources are often not recognized, and internationally there is a lack of systematic experimental and clinical (human) observational data. Available data are often of poor comparability and frequently include inadequate follow-up. A number of institutions and services have the ability to collect human health data, and these include poisons information centres, clinical toxicology centres, pre- and post-natal surveillance programs, occupational health services and hospital out-patient services. 

Many federal documents, particularly those on environmental subjects, are obtainable from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). NTIS, an agency of the U. S. Department of Commerce, is the central source for the public sale of U. S. sponsored research, development and technical reports. The Monthly Catalog lists by agency and is available from GPO. Many publications on safety and toxicology that relate to chemical industry needs, however, must be obtained from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Cincinnati. Securing state documents can be equally frustrating. 

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