Genotoxicity and inflammatory potential of stainless steel welding fume particles: an in vitro study on standard vs Cr(VI)-reduced flux-cored wires and the role of released metals.

Welders are daily exposed to various levels of welding fumes containing several metals. This exposure can lead to an increased risk for different health effects which serves as a driving force to develop new methods that generate less toxic fumes. The aim of this study was to explore the role of released metals for welding particle-induced toxicity and to test the hypothesis that a reduction of Cr(VI) in welding fumes results in less toxicity by comparing the welding fume particles of optimized Cr(VI)-reduced flux-cored wires (FCWs) to standard FCWs.

High variability in toxicity of welding fume nanoparticles from stainless steel in lung cells and reporter cell lines: the role of particle reactivity and solubility.

Millions of people in the world perform welding as their primary occupation resulting in exposure to metal-containing nanoparticles in the fumes generated. Even though health effects including airway diseases are well-known, there is currently a lack of studies investigating how different welding set-ups and conditions affect the toxicity of generated nanoparticles of the welding fume. The aim of this study was to investigate the toxicity of nine types of welding fume particles generated active gas shielded metal arc welding (GMAW) of chromium-containing stainless steel under different conditions and, furthermore, to correlate the toxicity to the particle characteristics.