BIOLOGICAL MONITORING OF WORKERS OCCUPATIONALLY EXPOSED TO ETHYLENE-OXIDE

Ethylene oxide (EtO) is an important intermediate industrial chemical which is also used for sterilizing medical products and hospital equip ment. In the present study we have evaluated some biological markers, such as chromosomal aberrations, micronuclei and EtO-hemoglobin adduct s in the peripheral blood cells, and micronuclei in buccal exfoliated cells of 22 controls and 75 workers employed in an industry in Brazil using EtO as an intermediate. Measurements of EtO in the general area showed that workers were exposed to 2-5 ppm time-weighted average (TWA ) for an 8-h working day, during the 3-month sampling. Our results ind icate that exposure to EtO resulted in a statistically significant enh ancement of chromosomal aberrations (P = 0.01) and of micronuclei in b inucleated lymphocytes (P < 0.001). For the frequencies of micronuclea ted cells in buccal mucosa there was no statistically significant diff erence between exposed and control groups. The mean values of hemoglob in adduct (HOEtVal) measurements obtained from a selected group of exp osed and unexposed donors were statistically different.