Establishing airborne exposure control limits in the pharmaceutical industry.

In the course of employment, workers in the pharmaceutical industry are exposed to compounds which are designed to produce pharmacological effects. For the most part, exposure occurs in the handling of finely divided solids. Data from laboratory animal studies and clinical trials can be extrapolated to predict possible effects of exposure in the workplace. To that end a procedure for establishing workplace exposure control limits (ECLs) for pharmaceutical products is presented. Workplace exposure limits are given for 32 human health drugs.