Gombos B, Merva M, Sekula F, Koci M
Institute of Geotechnics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Kosice, Slovak Republic.
Med Lav. 1996 Jul-Aug;87(4):297-304.
Workers handling dressing machines for seed treatment with the product Agronal, containing a phenylmercury chloride fungicide, were exposed to high concentrations of phenylmercury dust in the working environment. Urine analyses for mercury result in concentration of up to 0.1 mg Hg/l of urine. After administration of a complex-forming substance-Unitol (2,3-dimercapto-1-propane sodium sulfonate)-a higher urinary excretion of mercury occurred. The amount of mercury excreted confirmed its deposit in the organism. It was speculated that subjective complaints by workers handling dressing machines could be caused by high exposure to phenylmercury. This suggestion cannot, however, be fully accepted because the complaints were not necessarily specific for mercury only, but could also have been caused by factors of nontoxic origin, such as stress at the workplace, discontent with work and environmental hygiene conditions, conflicts and alcoholism. Most probably, it was a case of interpotentiation of the effects of toxic and non-toxic nature.
操作含有苯基汞氯化物杀菌剂的Agronal产品种子处理拌种机的工人，在工作环境中接触到高浓度的苯基汞粉尘。尿液汞分析结果显示，尿汞浓度高达0.1毫克/升。在给予一种络合剂——二巯基丙磺酸钠（Unitol）后，尿汞排泄量增加。排出的汞量证实了其在体内的沉积。据推测，操作拌种机的工人的主观不适可能是由于高浓度接触苯基汞所致。然而，这一推测不能被完全接受，因为这些不适不一定仅由汞引起，也可能是由无毒来源的因素导致的，如工作场所的压力、对工作和环境卫生条件的不满、冲突以及酗酒等。很可能，这是一个毒性和非毒性因素相互作用的案例。
