Inhalable dust and endotoxin exposure levels in the agricultural seed processing industry
| Plant | n | Inhalable dust (mg/m3) | Endotoxin (103 EU/m3) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GM (GSD) | Range | GM (GSD) | Range | ||
| n, number of measurements; GM, geometric mean; GSD, geometric standard deviation. | |||||
| *Inhalable dust levels not available. | |||||
| †n = 97. | |||||
| ‡n = 9. | |||||
| §n = 100. | |||||
| November 1999 | |||||
| Grass seed, quality inspection lab | 4 | −* | − | 88 (2.5) | 33–274 |
| November 2000 | |||||
| Grass and maize seed-1 | 5 | 0.9 (2.9) | 0.2–1.9 | 0.6 (2.4) | 0.2–1.7 |
| Grass seed-1 | 6 | 5.4 (1.5) | 3.1–9.0 | 3.7 (1.7) | 1.8–6.1 |
| April 2001 | |||||
| Grass and maize seed-1 | 12 | 1.0 (9.1) | 0.1–98.0 | 0.6 (11.9) | 0.01–51 |
| Grass and maize seed-2 | 11 | 2.6 (2.0) | 1.0–13.3 | 3.4 (2.3) | 0.6–18 |
| Grass seed-2 | 15 | 1.5 (3.4) | 0.1–17.2 | 2.9 (3.0) | 0.2–10 |
| Cereal seed-1 | 2 | 4.0 (1.5) | 3.0–5.5 | 3.6 (2.9) | 1.7–7.5 |
| Vegetable seed-1 | 10 | 1.0 (3.6) | 0.2–14.1 | 0.6 (6.0)‡ | 0.04–10 |
| Vegetable seed-2 | 14 | 0.9 (3.6) | 0.2–12.7 | 0.7 (5.0) | 0.1–22 |
| Vegetable seed-3 | 16 | 1.0 (3.4) | 0.1–5.3 | 1.0 (8.5) | 0.03–42 |
| January 2002 | |||||
| Grass seed, research institute | 6 | 16.1 (1.6) | 10.4–34.7 | 41 (1.7) | 19–80 |
| All | 101 | 1.6 (4.3)† | 0.1–98.0 | 1.8 (7.7)§ | 0.01–274 |