Perbellini L, Pasini F, Prigioni P, Rosina A
Dipartimento di Medicina e Sanità Pubblica-Università di Verona.
G Ital Med Lav Ergon. 2003 Jul-Sep;25 Suppl(3):39-40.
Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is widely used as an additive to gasoline, to increase oxygen content and reduce tailpipe emission of carbon monoxide. Our research dealt with 37 refinery workers in order to measure their occupational exposure to MTBE during two different seasonal periods. They provided blood and urine samples before and after a work shift during which they wore an active charcoal sampler for solvents. All samples were analysed by a gas-chromatograph equipped with a mass spectrometer detector. The concentration in air of MTBE was very low (median: 25 micrograms/m3 in spring and 5 micrograms/m3 in autumn). The blood and urine concentrations of MTBE at the end of the work shift were higher than those found before the shift. The increment in biological samples confirmed a small intake of MTBE by refinery workers: the biological monitoring of occupational exposure to this solvent yielded reliable results. Blood and urinary concentrations of MTBE obtained from workers split in relation to their smoking habit did not give a statistic significance to say that cigarette smoke is not a confusion factor in monitoring exposure to MTBE.
甲基叔丁基醚（MTBE）被广泛用作汽油添加剂，以增加含氧量并减少汽车尾气中的一氧化碳排放。我们的研究针对37名炼油厂工人，旨在测量他们在两个不同季节期间职业接触MTBE的情况。他们在一个工作班次前后提供了血液和尿液样本，在这个班次中他们佩戴了用于溶剂的活性炭采样器。所有样本均通过配备质谱检测器的气相色谱仪进行分析。空气中MTBE的浓度非常低（春季中位数：25微克/立方米，秋季中位数：5微克/立方米）。工作班次结束时血液和尿液中MTBE的浓度高于班次开始前的浓度。生物样本中的增加量证实炼油厂工人有少量MTBE摄入：对这种溶剂职业接触的生物监测产生了可靠的结果。根据吸烟习惯划分的工人所获得的MTBE血液和尿液浓度没有统计学意义表明香烟烟雾不是监测MTBE接触的混淆因素。
