Source
NIOSH 2003 Jul; :1-12
Abstract
While our lung function tests of workers at your plant did not reveal obstruction, the abnormality most associated with butter flavoring exposure, this should not be interpreted to mean that there is little, or no risk from flavoring exposure in your plant. As I discussed in my previous letter, while most of your microwave production workers had lung function that was in the normal range, it is possible that some had higher levels of function in the past. The respiratory symptoms reported by some of them may mean that their lung function could become abnormal in the future. In addition, since not all workers are equally susceptible to the effects of a chemical exposure, it is possible that the small number of workers we tested at your plant did not include workers that were sensitive to the air concentrations of flavoring chemicals that were present during our evaluation. Future new employees could be at risk, and changes in your production process, level of production, or the flavorings that you use could increase risk for current workers if exposures to flavorings chemicals increase as a result.
Keywords
Region-7; Hazard-Unconfirmed; Pulmonary-function-tests; Pulmonary-system-disorders; Volatiles; Organic-chemicals; Respirable-dust; Respiratory-irritants; Respiratory-system-disorders; Ketones; Chronic-inflammation; Medical-screening; Employee-exposure; Bronchial-asthma; Smoking; Fatigue; Food-additives; Food-colors; Food-processing; Chest-X-rays; Airway-obstruction; Lung-irritants
Document Type
Field Studies; Technical Assistance; Hazard Evaluation and Technical Assistance
NTIS Accession No.
PB2006-112871
Identifying No.
HETA-2002-0089-letter
Source Name
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health