Exposure to airborne asbestos in thermal power plants in Mongolia.

Background: Coal-fired thermal power plants (TPPs) in Mongolia use various types of asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) in thermal insulation of piping systems, furnaces, and other products.

Objective: To investigate the occupational exposure of insulation workers to airborne asbestos in Mongolian power plants.

Methods: Forty-seven air samples were collected from four power plants in Mongolia during the progress of insulation work.

An assessment of air pollution and its attributable mortality in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Epidemiologic studies have consistently reported associations between outdoor fine particulate matter (PM) air pollution and adverse health effects. Although Asia bears the majority of the public health burden from air pollution, few epidemiologic studies have been conducted outside of North America and Europe due in part to challenges in population exposure assessment. We assessed the feasibility of two current exposure assessment techniques, land use regression (LUR) modeling and mobile monitoring, and estimated the mortality attributable to air pollution in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Associations of fertility and pregnancy outcomes with leather tannery work in Mongolia: a pilot study.

To our knowledge, reproductive health effects among male leather tannery workers have not been previously investigated. Tannery work involves exposure to chromium, solvents, and other chemicals, which has been associated with adverse pregnancy and fertility outcomes in animals or humans in some studies. This study retrospectively investigates the association of male leather tannery work with preterm delivery, spontaneous abortion, time to pregnancy, and infertility by comparing tannery employees to other workers in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Occupational lung diseases and the mining industry in Mongolia.

Mining production has accounted for around 50% of the gross industrial product in Mongolia since 1998. Dust-induced chronic bronchitis and pneumoconiosis currently account for the largest relative share (67.8%) of occupational diseases in Mongolia, and cases are increasing annually.