Study of the quantitative contribution of the multiple sources of lead exposure in the industrial environment

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Dec 31 23:00:00 EST 1980

OSTI ID:5605772

Chavalitnitikul, C

Lead intake of industrial lead workers is generally attributed to the inhalation and ingestion routes. However, only inhaled lead has been widely accepted or studied as a major route of entry and consequently, ingested lead has received minor attention. The main objective of this research was to investigate the possible contributions of the multiple sources of lead exposure including airborne, hand, facial and work surface lead contamination and other external exposure among battery workers. The OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) surface contamination wipe sampling procedure was first evaluated for selecting the sampling technique by generating known lead oxide concentrations on two different types of test surfaces i.e. porous and non-porous surfaces. The study has indicated that the results of the OSHA procedure are dependent upon the physical condition of the test surface, the pressure applied, the variations of the sampled area, the technique of wiping, personal variations, and the type of sampling materials used. The study has also established that improvement of the OSHA procedure can be achieved by using wipe material cut to predetermined size or by other means tested in this study with maximim pressure applied. The second part of this reseach was to investigate the possible contribution of the multiple sources of lead exposure to the levels of lead absorption and to evaluate the mathematical relationship of biochemical indices such as blood lead and zinc protoporphyrin and sources of lead exposure among battery workers. Statistical analysis has shown that lead intake from sources other than air might contribute to the levels of lead absorption. Quantitative relationships between biochemical indices and various exposure sources have been found to be strongest in the form of log-log relationship. However, only single independent variables could be included into each model due to the intercorrelation of the four major variables.

• OSTI ID: 5605772
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
560306* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Man-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BIOCHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
CORRELATIONS
ELEMENTS
INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
INIS
KINETICS
LEAD
MEDICINE
METALS
POLLUTION SOURCES
POROSITY
REACTION KINETICS
SAMPLE PREPARATION
SAMPLING
SURFACES