Lee R J, Van Orden D R
RJ Lee Group, Inc., 350 Hochberg Road, Monroeville, PA 15146, USA.
Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2008 Mar;50(2):218-25. doi: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2007.10.005. Epub 2007 Oct 12.
The concentration of airborne asbestos in buildings nationwide is reported in this study. A total of 3978 indoor samples from 752 buildings, representing nearly 32 man-years of sampling, have been analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. The buildings that were surveyed were the subject of litigation related to suits alleging the general building occupants were exposed to a potential health hazard as a result the presence of asbestos-containing materials (ACM). The average concentration of all airborne asbestos structures was 0.01structures/ml (s/ml) and the average concentration of airborne asbestos > or = 5microm long was 0.00012fibers/ml (f/ml). For all samples, 99.9% of the samples were <0.01 f/ml for fibers longer than 5microm; no building averaged above 0.004f/ml for fibers longer than 5microm. No asbestos was detected in 27% of the buildings and in 90% of the buildings no asbestos was detected that would have been seen optically (> or = 5microm long and > or = 0.25microm wide). Background outdoor concentrations have been reported at 0.0003f/ml > or = 5microm. These results indicate that in-place ACM does not result in elevated airborne asbestos in building atmospheres approaching regulatory levels and that it does not result in a significantly increased risk to building occupants.
本研究报告了全国建筑物空气中石棉的浓度。通过透射电子显微镜对来自752栋建筑物的3978个室内样本进行了分析，这些样本代表了近32人年的采样量。接受调查的建筑物是与诉讼相关的对象，这些诉讼称建筑物内的普通居住者因含有石棉材料（ACM）而面临潜在的健康危害。所有空气中石棉结构的平均浓度为0.01个结构/毫升（s/ml），空气中长度大于或等于5微米的石棉平均浓度为0.00012纤维/毫升（f/ml）。对于所有样本，99.9%的样本中长度大于5微米的纤维<0.01 f/ml；对于长度大于5微米的纤维，没有一栋建筑物的平均浓度超过0.004 f/ml。27%的建筑物中未检测到石棉，90%的建筑物中未检测到光学可见的石棉（长度大于或等于5微米且宽度大于或等于0.25微米）。据报道，室外背景浓度为0.0003 f/ml（长度大于或等于5微米）。这些结果表明，建筑物内的ACM不会导致建筑物空气中的石棉浓度升高至接近监管水平，也不会显著增加建筑物居住者的风险。
