RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Biomonitoring of traffic police officers exposed to airborne platinum JF Occupational and Environmental Medicine JO Occup Environ Med FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd SP 636 OP 639 DO 10.1136/oem.2003.010744 VO 61 IS 7 A1 I Iavicoli A1 B Bocca A1 F Petrucci A1 O Senofonte A1 G Carelli A1 A Alimonti A1 S Caroli YR 2004 UL http://oem.bmj.com/content/61/7/636.abstract AB Background: Over the past two decades there has been a substantial increase in environmental levels of palladium, platinum, and rhodium, the platinum group elements (PGEs), due to the widespread use of catalytic converters for automotive traction. Aim: To evaluate urinary platinum levels in occupationally exposed subjects. Methods: A total of 161 employees from the Rome City Police Force were studied; 103 were traffic police involved in controlling streets with an average flow of vehicles, while the remaining 58 were control subjects engaged only in office work. Platinum quantification in the urine samples of these subjects was carried out by sector field inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between platinum levels in the group of subjects engaged in traffic control and the control group (4.45 (2.42) ng/l v 4.56 (2.84) ng/l, respectively). Conclusions: Urinary levels were found to be higher than those reported for other urban populations, thus showing a progressive increase in human exposure to Pt.