Biomonitoring of polycyclic aromatic compounds in the urine of mining workers occupationally exposed to diesel exhaust.

Diesel exhaust is considered a probable human carcinogen by the IARC. Biomonitoring of workers occupationally exposed to diesel exhaust was performed to determine their internal burden of diesel associated aromatic compounds. Personal air sampling also allowed to determine the exposure of the miners at their work place towards several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and nitro-arenes, the latter of which are thought to be specific constituents of diesel exhaust.

Pentachlorophenol and the peripheral nervous system: a longitudinal study in exposed workers.

A longitudinal study was performed to examine whether chronic occupational exposure to pentachlorophenol (PCP) or its compounds causes measurable alterations in the conduction velocity in peripheral nerves as an "adverse effect." In total, the results of nerve conduction velocity (NCV) determinations in 1980 and 1984 in 10 subjects (7 men, 3 women) who had been exposed for an average of 16 years (range 4-24) were available. The concentrations of PCP in the air at the workplace varied between 0.

[Investigations on neurotoxicity of chemical substances at the workplace. II. Determination of the motor and sensory nerve conduction velocity in persons occupationally exposed to pentachlorophenol (author's transl)].

We examined eighteen workers (three women, 15 men) in a pentachlorophenol (PCP) processing factory, with a mean activity of 12 years. PCP in blood and urine samples was analyzed by gas chromatography. To evaluate the peripheral nervous system the maximal motor as well as sensory nerve conduction velocities of the ulnar and/or median nerve were measured.