Results from the US industry-wide phosgene surveillance: the Diller Registry.

OBJECTIVE

In 2004, The American Chemistry Council Phosgene Panel established a phosgene exposure registry among US phosgene producers with the primary purpose of monitoring health outcome information for workers with acute exposure.

METHODS

We examine symptoms among 338 workers with phosgene exposure. The phosgene exposures averaged 8.3 ppm-minutes ranging up to 159 ppm-minutes with most exposures below 10 ppm-minutes.

RESULTS

We found that the level of phosgene exposure in ppm-minutes was related to workers reporting mostly irritation symptoms of the nose, throat and eyes within 48 hours of exposure. However, we found no relationship between phosgene exposure and the presence of symptoms 30 days after exposure.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings lend credence to the theory that prolonged respiratory effects do not occur with doses less than 150 ppm-minutes.