Nj. Vansittert et al., MONITORING OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO ETHYLENE-OXIDE BY THE DETERMINATION OF HEMOGLOBIN ADDUCTS, Environmental health perspectives, 99, 1993, pp. 217-220
In a study on workers in a chemical plant where ethylene oxide (EtO) i
s manufactured and partly used for ethylene glycol production, exposur
e to EtO was monitored during annual periodic health assessments in Ja
nuary 1988, December 1988, and March 1990 by the determination of the
level of 2-hydroxyethylvaline (HOEtVal) in hemoglobin. The HOEtVal lev
els in workers corresponded with the potential EtO exposures. The high
est level was found in December 1988, in blood samples collected 1-2 m
onths after a shut-down, maintenance, and start-up program. The range
of adduct levels found in the three examinations indicated that averag
e EtO exposures during the 4 months preceding blood sampling were belo
w 0.5 ppm. It was demonstrated that the method allows for the accurate
monitoring of low levels of EtO exposure and provides personalized ti
me-integrated exposure data with great discriminative power. In additi
on, the method may serve to identify unexpected personal exposures, wh
ich may lead to targeted exposure control measures.