Acute toxicology of components of vegetation smoke

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3078-6_1· OSTI ID:5978602

Dost, F N ^[1]

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1. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis (USA)

Only in recent times, systematic attention has been paid to the occupational health of forest firefighters and workers who manage prescribed fire. Two parts of the effort to learn the impact on worker health are medical observation of those workers, and study of occupational hygiene. It is also necessary to learn what components of smoke are most likely to affect firefighters, and to learn something of the manner in which those substances might compromise health; this review is a step toward that end. The number of possible products of vegetation combustion is almost limitless, and every fuel and condition of burning produces a unique pattern. Nonetheless, it is possible and practical to select a limited number of products that are most likely to be involved in the acute toxicity of smoke. Two products that are almost certainly important are formaldehyde and acrolein. Both appear to occur in all smoke. The toxicology of both is well studied; in particular both are powerful mucosal irritants. Estimates of exposure suggest strongly that concentrations are high enough in smoke to contribute some or all of the irritant activity. There seems to be a reasonable prospect that free radical precursors with half-lives in the tens of minutes are produced when cellulosic materials burn. If so, they will reach the respiratory tract, and liberate free radicals that react immediately on or in pulmonary cells. Ozone is not produced in the fire, but the various hydrocarbons of smoke are substrates for reactions that eventually produce ozone, and that production may continue for miles down-plume. Some measured plume concentrations approach the threshold for human health effects. The effects of the best known component, the particulate material, are unknown in isolation from all of the other substances in smoke. 122 refs.

• OSTI ID: 5978602
• Journal Information: Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology; (USA), Vol. 119; ISSN 0179-5953
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACROLEIN
TOXICITY
FORMALDEHYDE
OZONE
BIOLOGICAL HALF-LIFE
COMBUSTION
MAN
PERSONNEL
PLANTS
RADICALS
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
REVIEWS
SMOKES
AEROSOLS
ALDEHYDES
ANIMALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COLLOIDS
DISPERSIONS
DOCUMENT TYPES
MAMMALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
PRIMATES
RESIDUES
SOLS
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
VERTEBRATES
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology