Review
Exposure to benzene in urban workers: environmental and
biological monitoring of traffic police in Rome
R Crebellia, F Tomeib, A Zijnoa, S Ghittoric, M Imbrianid, D Gamberalee, A Martinib, A Carerea
a National Health
Institute, Rome, Italy, b Institute of Occupational Medicine,
University "La Sapienza", Rome, Italy, c Fondazione Salvatore Maugeri IRCSS,
Pavia, Italy, d Department
of Preventive, Occupational and Community Medicine, University of
Pavia, Italy, e SPRESAL Azienda
USL RM/A, Rome, Italy
Correspondence to: Dr R Crebelli, Laboratory of Comparative Toxicology and Ecotoxicology, Istituto Superiore di Sanita', Viale Regina Elena, 299 I-00161 Rome, Italy crebelli{at}iss.it
Accepted 14
November 2000
OBJECTIVES
To evaluate
the contribution of traffic fumes to exposure to benzene in urban
workers, an investigation on personal exposure to benzene in traffic
police from the city of Rome was carried out.
METHODSThe study was
performed from December 1998 to June 1999. Diffusive Radiello personal
samplers were used to measure external exposures to benzene and alkyl
benzenes during the workshift in 139 policemen who controlled medium to
high traffic areas and in 63 office police. Moreover, as biomarkers of
internal exposure to benzene, blood benzene, and urinary trans,
trans-muconic and S-phenyl mercapturic acids were measured at the
beginning and at the end of the workshift in 124 traffic police and 58 office police.
RESULTSTime weighted
average (TWA) exposure to benzene was consistently higher among traffic
police than among indoor workers (geometric mean 6.8 and 3.5 µg/m3, respectively). Among the traffic police, the
distribution of individual exposures was highly asymmetric, skewed
toward higher values. Mean ambient benzene concentrations measured by
municipal air monitoring stations during workshifts of traffic police
were generally higher (geometric mean 12.6 µg/m3) and did
not correlat with personal exposure values. In particular, no
association was found between highest personal exposure scores and
environmental benzene concentrations. Among the exposure biomarkers investigated, only blood benzene correlated slightly with on-shift exposure to benzene, but significant increases in both urinary trans,
trans-muconic and S-phenylmercapturic acids were found in active
smokers compared with non-smokers, irrespective of their job.
CONCLUSIONThe
exposure to traffic fumes during working activities in medium to high
traffic areas in Rome may give a relatively greater contribution to
personal exposure to benzene than indoor sources present in confined
environments. Smoking significantly contributed to internal exposure to
benzene in both indoor and outdoor workers.
Keywords: exposure to benzene; traffic fumes; biomonitoring; traffic police
© 2001 by Occupational and Environmental Medicine
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
Tomei, G, Tomao, E, Ciarrocca, M, Rosati, M., Caciari, T, Gamberale, D, Palermo, P, Sio, S D., Tria, M, Panfili, A, Tomei, F
(2009). Follicle-stimulating hormone levels in male workers exposed to urban chemical, physical, and psychosocial stressors. Toxicol Ind Health
25: 395-402
[Abstract] -
Tomei, G, Rosati, M., Ciarrocca, M, Capozzella, A, Pimpinella, B, Palitti, T, Casale, T, Di Famiani, M, Filippelli, C, Cangemi, C, Giubilati, R, Monti, C, Tomei, F
(2007). Urban stressors and plasmatic 17-{beta}-estradiol (E2) in male exposed workers. Toxicol Ind Health
23: 537-543
[Abstract] -
Tomei, G., Capozzella, A., Ciarrocca, M., Fiore, P., Valeria Rosati, M., Fiaschetti, M., Casale, T., Anzelmo, V., Tomei, F., Monti, C.
(2007). Plasma dopamine in workers exposed to urban stressor. Toxicol Ind Health
23: 421-427
[Abstract] -
Ray, M.R., Roychoudhury, S., Mukherjee, S., Lahiri, T.
(2007). Occupational benzene exposure from vehicular sources in India and its effect on hematology, lymphocyte subsets and platelet P-selectin expression. Toxicol Ind Health
23: 167-175
[Abstract] -
Fustinoni, S., Consonni, D., Campo, L., Buratti, M., Colombi, A., Pesatori, A. C., Bonzini, M., Bertazzi, P. A., Foa, V., Garte, S., Farmer, P. B., Levy, L. S., Pala, M., Valerio, F., Fontana, V., Desideri, A., Merlo, D. F.
(2005). Monitoring Low Benzene Exposure: Comparative Evaluation of Urinary Biomarkers, Influence of Cigarette Smoking, and Genetic Polymorphisms. Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev.
14: 2237-2244
[Abstract] [Full Text]
eLetters:
Read all eLetters
- Level of benzene in blood
- Francesco Brugnone
- Occup Environ Med Online, 6 Jul 2001 [Full text]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Read responses to this article
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- Citation Map
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
