Preliminary study of propyl bromide exposure among New Jersey dry cleaners as a result of a pending ban on perchloroethylene.

Many states are considering, and some states have actively pursued, banning the use of perchloroethylene (PERC) in dry cleaning establishments. Proposed legislation has led many dry cleaners to consider the use of products that contain greater than 90% n-propyl bromide (n-PB; also called 1-bromopropane or 1-BP). Very little information is known about toxicity and exposure to n-PB.

Work-related asthma in the educational services industry: California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey, 1993-2000.

Objectives: To characterize work-related asthma (WRA) cases working in the educational services industry identified by state-based occupational disease surveillance systems.

Methods: We examined 2,995 WRA cases reported from 1993 to 2000 to four states: California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey.

Results: A total of 265 (9%) WRA cases were employed in the educational services industry; 69% of cases were classified as new-onset asthma and 31% as work-aggravated asthma.

Work-related asthma among health care workers: surveillance data from California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey, 1993-1997.

Background: Asthma morbidity has increased, posing a public health burden. Work-related asthma (WRA) accounts for a significant proportion of adult asthma that causes serious personal and economic consequences.

Methods: Cases were identified using physician reports and hospital discharge data, as part of four state-based surveillance systems.

Highway repair: a new silicosis threat.

Objectives: We describe an emerging public health concern regarding silicosis in the fast-growing highway repair industry.

Methods: We examined highway construction trends, silicosis surveillance case data, and environmental exposure data to evaluate the risk of silicosis among highway repair workers. We reviewed silicosis case data from the construction industry in 3 states that have silicosis registries, and we conducted environmental monitoring for silica at highway repair work sites.

Responding to a bioterrorist attack: environmental investigation of anthrax in New Jersey.

A bioterrorism attack using the United States postal system to deliver a hazardous biological agent to specific targets created multiple environmental and occupational exposure risks along the path of the anthrax-containing letters. On October 18, 2001, a suspected case of cutaneous anthrax was confirmed in a postal worker from the Trenton Processing and Distribution Center where at least four suspect letters were postmarked. Over the next three weeks, a team of investigators collected samples at 57 workplaces in New Jersey as part of a comprehensive environmental investigation to assess anthrax contamination as a result of this bioterrorist attack.

Cleaning products and work-related asthma.

To describe the characteristics of individuals with work-related asthma associated with exposure to cleaning products, data from the California-, Massachusetts-, Michigan-, and New Jersey state-based surveillance systems of work-related asthma were used to identify cases of asthma associated with exposure to cleaning products at work. From 1993 to 1997, 236 (12%) of the 1915 confirmed cases of work-related asthma identified by the four states were associated with exposure to cleaning products. Eighty percent of the reports were of new-onset asthma and 20% were work-aggravated asthma.

Work-related reactive airways dysfunction syndrome cases from surveillance in selected US states.

The objective was to elaborate the descriptive epidemiology of work-related cases of reactive airways dysfunction syndrome (RADS). Cases of work-related asthma (WRA) were identified in four states in the United States during 1993-1995 as part of the Sentinel Event Notification Systems for Occupational Risks (SENSOR). Information gathered by follow-back interview was used to describe 123 work-related RADS cases and to compare them to 301 other WRA cases whose onset of disease was associated with a known asthma inducer.

Fatal asthma from powdering shark cartilage and review of fatal occupational asthma literature.

Background: Work-related asthma (WRA) is the most common work-associated respiratory disease in developed countries.

Method: We report shark cartilage dust as a new potential cause of occupational asthma (OA) in the context of other fatal OA case reports.

Results: A 38-year-old white male worked for 8 years in a facility which primarily granulated and powdered various plastics.