Spaan Suzanne, Wouters Inge M, Oosting Isabella, Doekes Gert, Heederik Dick
Division of Environmental and Occupational Health, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, University of Utrecht, PO Box 80176, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands.
J Environ Monit. 2006 Jan;8(1):63-72. doi: 10.1039/b509838f. Epub 2005 Oct 7.
Endotoxin is a well-known bacterial toxin that causes several health effects. Animal faeces and plant materials contaminated with bacteria have been identified as important determinants of organic dust related endotoxin exposure. Although high exposure to organic dust and endotoxins has been described regularly in agricultural industries, a detailed overview of levels of airborne exposure to endotoxins in the agricultural industry, as well as a systematic comparison between several specific branches using the same exposure assessment protocols are lacking. In this study, personal endotoxin exposure in a broad spectrum of agricultural industries was investigated and possible determinants of exposure were explored. 601 personal inhalable dust samples were taken in 46 companies of three agricultural industrial sectors: grains, seeds and legumes sector (GSL), horticulture sector (HC) and animal production sector (AP), with 350 participating employees. Dust and endotoxin levels were determined gravimetrically and by using the Limulus Amoebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay, respectively. Basic descriptive analysis and elaborate analysis of variance were performed. Mean exposure levels were high, with large differences between sectors and between companies within the sectors. Highest dust and endotoxin exposures were found in companies of the GSL sector. In all three sectors exposure was higher in the primary production part compared to the (industrial) products processing part of the sector. The Dutch proposed health based occupational exposure limit (50 EU m(-3)) and temporary legal limit (200 EU m(-3)) for endotoxin were often exceeded. Differences in exposure between workers were larger than the day-to-day variability. Identified determinants increasing exposure levels were company, dustiness of the product and contact with animals/faeces. 'Wet' processes resulted in less dusty working environments and thus lowered endotoxin exposure. Overall, exposure to endotoxins over the whole range of agricultural industries is high. A 10-1,000 fold reduction in exposure is needed to reduce endotoxin related health risks.
内毒素是一种众所周知的细菌毒素，会对健康造成多种影响。已确定受细菌污染的动物粪便和植物材料是与有机粉尘相关的内毒素暴露的重要决定因素。尽管农业行业经常出现高暴露于有机粉尘和内毒素的情况，但缺乏对农业行业空气中内毒素暴露水平的详细概述，以及使用相同暴露评估方案对几个特定分支进行的系统比较。在本研究中，对广泛的农业行业中的个人内毒素暴露情况进行了调查，并探索了可能的暴露决定因素。在三个农业工业部门的46家公司中采集了601份个人可吸入粉尘样本，这三个部门分别是谷物、种子和豆类部门（GSL）、园艺部门（HC）和动物生产部门（AP），共有350名员工参与。分别采用重量法和鲎试剂法测定粉尘和内毒素水平。进行了基本描述性分析和详细的方差分析。平均暴露水平较高，各部门之间以及各部门内不同公司之间存在很大差异。GSL部门的公司中粉尘和内毒素暴露最高。在所有三个部门中，初级生产部分的暴露水平高于该部门的（工业）产品加工部分。荷兰提出的基于健康的内毒素职业暴露限值（50 EU m(-3)）和临时法定限值（200 EU m(-3)）经常被超过。工人之间的暴露差异大于每日变化。确定的增加暴露水平的决定因素是公司、产品的粉尘程度以及与动物/粪便的接触。“湿法”工艺导致工作环境粉尘较少，从而降低了内毒素暴露。总体而言，整个农业行业的内毒素暴露水平较高。需要将暴露降低10 - 1000倍才能降低与内毒素相关的健康风险。
