Huuskonen Pasi, Karakitsios Spyros, Scholten Bernice, Westerhout Joost, Sarigiannis Dimosthenis A, Santonen Tiina
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, 00032 Työterveyslaitos, Finland.
Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Toxics. 2022 Apr 25;10(5):217. doi: 10.3390/toxics10050217.
The aim of this work was to demonstrate how human biomonitoring (HBM) data can be used to assess cancer risks for workers and the general population. Ortho-toluidine, OT (CAS 95-53-4) is an aniline derivative which is an animal and human carcinogen and may cause methemoglobinemia. OT is used as a curing agent in epoxy resins and as intermediate in producing herbicides, dyes, and rubber chemicals. A risk assessment was performed for OT by using existing HBM studies. The urinary mass-balance methodology and generic exposure reconstruction PBPK modelling were both used for the estimation of the external intake levels corresponding to observed urinary levels. The external exposures were subsequently compared to cancer risk levels obtained from the evaluation by the Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL). It was estimated that workers exposed to OT have a cancer risk of 60 to 90:10 in the worst-case scenario (0.9 mg/L in urine). The exposure levels and cancer risk of OT in the general population were orders of magnitude lower when compared to workers. The difference between the output of urinary mass-balance method and the general PBPK model was approximately 30%. The external exposure levels calculated based on HBM data were below the binding occupational exposure level (0.5 mg/m) set under the EU Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive.
这项工作的目的是展示如何利用人体生物监测（HBM）数据评估工人和普通人群的癌症风险。邻甲苯胺（OT，CAS 95-53-4）是一种苯胺衍生物，是一种动物和人类致癌物，可能导致高铁血红蛋白血症。OT用作环氧树脂的固化剂，以及生产除草剂、染料和橡胶化学品的中间体。通过使用现有的HBM研究对OT进行了风险评估。尿质量平衡方法和通用暴露重建PBPK模型均用于估计与观察到的尿水平相对应的外部摄入量。随后将外部暴露与职业接触限值科学委员会（SCOEL）评估得出的癌症风险水平进行比较。据估计，在最坏情况下（尿中0.9 mg/L），接触OT的工人患癌症的风险为60至90:10万。与工人相比，普通人群中OT的暴露水平和癌症风险要低几个数量级。尿质量平衡法和通用PBPK模型的输出结果之间的差异约为30%。根据HBM数据计算出的外部暴露水平低于欧盟致癌物和诱变剂指令规定的职业接触限值（0.5 mg/m³）。
