Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess occupational exposure to diisononyl phthalate (DiNP) and di(2-propylheptyl) phthalate (DPHP] in Finland. Four companies took part in the research project: A cable factory, a plastic producing company, a producer of coated textiles, and a tarpaulin producer. The cable factory used DPHP (and occasionally also diisodecyl phthalate, DiDP), the plastic producing company used both DPHP and DiNP, and the latter two companies used DiNP in their production. Exposure was assessed by measuring phthalate metabolites in urine samples (biomonitoring) and by performing air measurements. Low-level occupational exposure to DiNP was observed in the company that produced coated textiles—out of eight workers, one extruder operator was exposed to DiNP at levels exceeding the non-occupationally exposed population background levels. Some workers in the cable factory and the plastics producing company were occupationally exposed to DPHP. Air levels of phthalates were generally low, mostly below the limit of quantification. All phthalate metabolite concentrations were, however, well below the calculated biomonitoring equivalents, which suggests that the health risks related to the exposure are low.
Highlights
Phthalates are ubiquitous environmental contaminants that may cause adverse effects on reproduction via their endocrine-disrupting properties
We studied the occupational phthalate exposure of plastics workers in four different factories
This study presents data on the internal exposure to DiNP and DPHP in four companies that use phthalates in their polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production or reprocessed PVC plastics
Summary
Phthalates (phthalate esters) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants that may cause adverse effects on reproduction via their endocrine-disrupting properties. Environmental phthalate exposure has been extensively studied in various countries—even relatively long exposure time-trends are available for many phthalate metabolites in urine samples. Occupational phthalate exposure has been studied much less [1]. This is surprising given that the exposure levels in occupational scenarios may substantially exceed the respective levels in environmental exposure. Only a few studies exist on occupational exposure to the phthalates still widely used in the industry, such as diisononyl phthalate (DiNP), diisodecyl phthalate (DiDP), and di(2-propylheptyl) phthalate (DPHP) [1]
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