Egilman David S, Schilling John Henry, Menendez Lelia
Never Again Consulting, Attleboro, MA, USA.
Int J Occup Environ Health. 2011 Apr-Jun;17(2):122-34. doi: 10.1179/107735211799031013.
Diacetyl is a naturally occurring compound that has been used in concentrated form as a food additive, particularly in butter flavorings. Inhalation of diacetyl and butter flavoring fumes has caused a variety of respiratory diseases in workers and consumers including bronchiolitis obliterans (BO), a relatively rare, severe, and irreversible lung disease. A safe level of exposure to diacetyl has not been established. We review the literature on diacetyl and flavoring toxicity and critique a recent proposal for an occupational exposure limit (OEL) of 0.2 ppm for diacetyl. We present unpublished data and novel analyses in support of our proposal for a safe level of exposure. Our findings indicate that a safe level of exposure exists around or below a time-weighted average of 1 ppb for an eight-hour workday. The levels of exposure we found to be unsafe include ranges that popcorn consumers may potentially be exposed to, indicating a risk of severe lung disease (including BO) for some consumers.
双乙酰是一种天然存在的化合物，它已被浓缩形式用作食品添加剂，尤其是在黄油调味剂中。吸入双乙酰和黄油调味烟雾已在工人和消费者中引发了多种呼吸道疾病，包括闭塞性细支气管炎（BO），这是一种相对罕见、严重且不可逆的肺部疾病。尚未确定双乙酰的安全暴露水平。我们回顾了关于双乙酰和调味剂毒性的文献，并对最近提出的双乙酰职业接触限值（OEL）为0.2 ppm进行了批判。我们提供未发表的数据和新的分析，以支持我们关于安全暴露水平的提议。我们的研究结果表明，对于八小时工作日，在时间加权平均1 ppb左右或以下存在安全暴露水平。我们发现不安全的暴露水平包括爆米花消费者可能潜在接触到的范围，这表明一些消费者存在患严重肺部疾病（包括BO）的风险。
