MULTIPLE EXPOSURE TO ARSENIC, ANTIMONY, AND OTHER ELEMENTS IN ART GLASS MANUFACTURING

Art glass manufacturing is one of the most interesting examples of exp osure to complex mixtures. Among the raw materials used are silica san d, borax, carbonates, nitrates of Ca, Na, K, and a great number of com pounds that are mainly oxides of As, Sb, Al, Zn, CI; Ni, Sn, Se, Cd, M n, Cu, Co, Fe, Nd, Er; Eu, and La. In six art glass factories that use As or Sb as fining agents, the exposure to these elements was investi gated in 32 workers by means of environmental and biological monitorin g. Analysis was conducted by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results con firmed that As, which is the main carcinogen in glass production, reac hes high air concentrations and is generally above the American Confer ence of Governmental industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) threshold limit val ue-time-weighted average (TLV-TWA) of 10 mu g/m(3). When partly substi tuted by antimonial compounds, As air concentrations dropped dr-amati cally, while the air levels of Sb (which is considered less toxic but is classified as a class 2B carcinogen by IARC) were relatively low an d below the ACGIH TLV-TWA of 500 mu g/m(3). Exposure to As and Sb also differed in the three types of jobs investigated: As was high in oven chargers, Sb was higher in batch mixers, and both elements were low i n makers-formers. Eleven to 18 elements were detected: arsenic, Al, Bq Sb, Pb, and Zn were the elements most frequently measured (in tens, a nd in some cases hundreds, of mu g/m(3)), followed by B, Li, Mn, Se, S n, Si; Ce, La, and Nd (in mu g or in same cases tens of mu g/m(3)). Th e results of biological monitoring for As, Sb, and other elements were in agreement with environmental monitoring data. We concluded that mu ltiple detection of elements is a useful tool for the evaluation of ex posure to complex mixtures such as those used in the art glass industr y and that such detection also allows a more accurate evaluation of re lated epidemiological data. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.