Adelaide Exposure Science and Health, School of Public Health, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
SafeWork SA, Government of South Australia, Adelaide, SA 5035, Australia.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 20;19(10):6221. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19106221.
The popularity of engineered stone (ES) has been associated with a global increase in occupational lung disease in workers exposed to respirable dust during the fabrication of benchtops and other ES products. In this study, the reactivity and subsequent oxidative reduction potential of freshly generated ES dusts were evaluated by (i) comparing different engineered and natural stones, (ii) comparing settled and respirable stone dust fractions and (iii) assessing the effect of ageing on the reactivity of freshly generated stone dust. An established cell-free deoxyguanosine hydroxylation assay was used to assess the potential for oxidative DNA damage. ES dust exhibited a higher relative reactivity than two of the three natural stones tested. Respirable dust fractions were found to be significantly more reactive than their corresponding settled fraction (ANOVA, p < 0.05) across all stone types and samples. However, settled dust still displayed high relative reactivity. The lower reactivity of the settled dust was not due to decay in reactivity of the respirable dust when it settled but rather a result of the admixture of larger nonrespirable particles. No significant change in respirable dust reactivity was observed for three ES samples over a 21-day time period, whereas a significant decrease in reactivity was observed in the natural stone studied. This study has practical implications for dust control and housekeeping in industry, risk assessment and hazard management.
人造石（ES）的普及与全球范围内在台面和其他 ES 产品制造过程中接触可吸入粉尘的工人职业性肺病的增加有关。在这项研究中，通过（i）比较不同的人造石和天然石，（ii）比较沉降和可吸入的石尘部分，以及（iii）评估老化对新生成的石尘反应性的影响，评估了新生成的 ES 粉尘的反应性和随后的氧化还原潜力。采用建立的无细胞脱氧鸟苷羟化测定法评估了氧化 DNA 损伤的可能性。ES 粉尘的相对反应性高于测试的三种天然石中的两种。在所有石材类型和样品中，可吸入粉尘部分的反应性明显高于其相应的沉降部分（ANOVA，p<0.05）。然而，沉降粉尘仍表现出较高的相对反应性。沉降粉尘的低反应性不是由于可吸入粉尘沉降时反应性的衰减，而是由于较大的不可吸入颗粒的混合物。在 21 天的时间内，三个 ES 样品的可吸入粉尘反应性没有明显变化，而研究中的天然石的反应性则显著下降。这项研究对工业中的粉尘控制和卫生、风险评估和危害管理具有实际意义。
