Current and historical individual data about exposure of workers in the rayon industry to carbon disulfide and their validity in calculating the cumulative dose

Abstract

Current exposure data, usually collected in cross-sectional studies, rarely allow a reliable statement on the cumulative dose, because of higher exposure in the past and of fluctuating courses of exposure. On the other hand, company-internal exposure data may be affected by non-representative measurement strategies. Some verification of the reliability of cumulative exposure data may be possible by testing the correlation between cumulative exposure data of external assessment and biological monitoring.

Health effect of chronic exposure to carbon disulfide (CS₂) on women employed in viscose industry

“…Psychophysical and physic-chemical properties of women are different from those typical for men and should be taken into consideration in cases of women working in the viscose industry [2,6,13,14,19]. In the case of women, intoxication of CS 2 is quicker and more serious than in the case of men because a woman's organism contains less water and more fat than a man's [19][20][21].…”

“…It is mainly used as a reagent in the viscose production. At the workplaces of this industrial process, employees are exposed to CS 2 , often for many years and occasionally to very high concentrations [2]. Due to its physical properties, CS 2 may enter the employees' body via both lung and skin, which complicates effective prevention of exposure [3].…”

“…The number of women in the workforce is increasing worldwide and a considerable proportion of them are of reproductive age. Therefore, special attention is required to note the reproductive dysfunctions, due to occupational exposure, among others, CS 2 [1,2].…”

Carbon disulfide. Just toxic or also bioregulatory and/or therapeutic?

“…195,197 Other studies have estimated that only 2-6% of CS 2 ingested is metabolized to TTCA 89,[197][198][199][200][201][202] owing to alternative metabolic pathways as well as loss through respiration.…”

“…30,194,195 Few studies account for chronic exposure 196 or the limits of quantification. CS 2 exposure has largely been assessed via detection of the urinary metabolite TTCA (Scheme 4).…”