Acute unintentional inhalation of paint thinner fumes resulted in serious multi-organ toxicity and death. This case strongly suggests the need to employ suitable precautionary measures while handling volatile organic solvents in a confined area.
A cross-sectional study was conducted in 25 spray painters and 35 control subjects to evaluate neurobehavioral function, and thyroid and reproductive hormones profile. This study indicated higher prevalence of psychological and neurological symptoms, and clinical findings among spray painters when compared with controls. Levels of TSH were significantly (p<0.01) elevated in spray painters over the control group (3.04 ± 1.53 vs 1.88 ± 1.07 µ µ µ µ µIU/ml, mean ± SD), respectively.Two of the 25 spray painters acquired sub-clinical hypothyroidism, and one subject was detected with overt hypothyroidism. T 4 levels were significantly (p<0.05) suppressed in spray painters while T 3 was not changed significantly in both the groups. Reproductive hormones (LH, FSH, and testosterone) showed no significant changes in control and spray-painting group. However, two spray painters had abnormally high level of LH (26.43 and 12.22 IU/l; normal range 0.5-10 IU/l). These subjects were also found to have abnormally higher level of FSH (38.63 and 14.11 IU/l; normal range 1.3-11.5 IU/l). An isolated higher level of FSH (39.94 IU/l) was also observed in one spray painter. No abnormality in the level of LH was observed in control group while 3 subjects from this group had abnormally high level of FSH. Testosterone levels were under the normal range (3-12 ng/ ml) in both the groups. This study might suggest that spray painters are at risk of developing neurobehavioral, thyroid and reproductive problems.
During welding operation, workers are exposed to welding fumes containing various toxic metals and their oxides, certain gases, radiation, and high temperature") . Health hazards and biological effects associated to these exposures have been extensively studied'-'), however, thyroid function has received very little attention. There are a few reports available, which indicate that some metals including aluminium, cadmium, lead, and mercury can alter thyroid function','). In addition, exposure to radiation, and high temperature are also known to have their impact on thyroid function. Studies reported') earlier from this Institute indicated that metals like manganese , iron, and zinc form the main constituents of welding fumes while chromium, nickel, copper, cadmium, and lead were found in trace amounts; significantly higher levels of these metals including chromium, nickel, copper, and cadmium were also found in blood of welders.Keeping in view the above facts, we have conducted a pilot study to assess thyroid function in welders working in small-scale industrial settings. Subjects and MethodsTwenty healthy male welders with an average age of 38.4 ± 8.67 yr (mean ± SD), having average occupational exposure of 13.5 ± 5.2 yr (mean ± SD), and performing manual electric arc and/or gas welding participated in the study. Job operation mainly included welding and cutting of iron objects. Simultaneously, an equal number of control subjects, matched with age, sex, socio-economic status and having no previous occupational exposure to welding profession or other chemicals were also studied. All subjects were interviewed for their life-style, and their occupational history was recorded. Intravenous blood samples (6-8 ml) from both the groups were drawn in a morning session. Serum was separated by centrifugation and used for hormonal analysis. Serum thyrotropin (thyroid stimulating hormone, TSH) was estimated by solid phase immunoradiometric assay (TSH/IRMA)7). Serum total T 3 ( TT3)8 and total T4 (TT4)9) were measured by radio immunoassay (RIA). Assay sensitivity (n=5) as determined by the lowest standard, different from zero (t-test), was 0.58 ng/dl for T3; 0.2 µg/dl for T4; and 0.03 µIU/ml for TSH, respectively. Intra-assay coefficients of variation (CVs) for reference sera (n=5 each) with T4 concentrations of 7.5 and 15 pg/dl were 3.4% and 4.8%, respectively. Similarly for T3 reference sera, (1.3 ng/ml) and TSH reference sera (30 /AU/ml); the values of CVs (n=5 each) were 4.3% and 4.6%, respectively. Statistical analysis was performed using Student's `t' test. ResultsLevels of TSH were increased significantly (p<0.02) in welders compared with non-welders. The average level of TSH was determined to be 2.61 ± 1.93 /AU/ml (mean ± SD) and ranged from 0.74-7.34 AU/m.1 in welders, while it was quite lower (1.71 ± 0.63 µIU/ml) in non welders and varied in a narrow range (0.81-3.20 µIU/ ml). However, total T3 (TT3) and total T4 (TT4) levels remained almost unchanged.Based on the individual TSH measurements, 4 of the 20 welders (s...
units were developed in collaboration with the Rural Technology Institute, Gandhinagar, India. Basically, each unit consists of three parts comprising an electric motor, a blower and a fume hood. In both units the motor is fixed in a rectangular iron frame in a foot-mount position and equipped compactly with a blower, which in turn is connected to a fume hood through a flexible hosepipe. The portable unit is light in weight (50 kg) and has a cone shaped metallic fume hood. The mobile unit, on the other hand, differs from the portable model with respect to its weight (150 kg), size, RPM, voltage requirement, hood shape and size, and has a motor enclosure. The efficiency of the portable and mobile units on trial bases was tested by measuring the manganese concentration as a reference metal in welding fumes generated by electric arc welding. The concentration of manganese (mean ± SD) was 0.218 ± 0.06 µg/m 3 in the general environment. In the workplace area where joining of metal objects by welding was done, the concentration of manganese was found to be 0.63 ± 0.09 and 3.75 ± 0.56 µg/m 3 at a distance of 5 m and 2 m away from the site of operation, respectively. In the breathing zone it was 22.16 ± 20.90 µg/m 3 which was reduced to 8.25 ± 4.5 µg /m 3 after application of a portable LEV showing about 63% removal of the manganese concentration from the breathing zone of the welder. In another experiment conducted with a mobile LEV unit for heavy-duty work, Occupational Health/Safety in the WorldReceived May 12, 2003; Accepted May 31, 2004 Correspondence to: S. Zaidi, Department of Biochemistry, National Institute of Occupational Health, Indian Council of Medical Research (I.C.M.R), Meghaninagar, Ahmedabad-380016, (Gujarat), India (e-mail: shakeelzaidi@yahoo.co.in) the concentration of manganese in the breathing zone without operating the mobile LEV was 70.06 ± 37.38 µg /m 3 but was lowered to 8.29 ± 1.76 µg /m 3 after operating the mobile LEV. This indicated an average removal of manganese content by about 88% from the breathing zone of the welder. In both the experiments locations of sample collection were similar.
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