L. Christine Oliver

Occupational Hygiene Characterization of a Highway Construction Project: A Pilot Study

Abstract This pilot study is the application of a task-based sampling method used to characterize exposures on a highway construction project. The study developed methods to conduct occupational hygiene exposure assessment during building of a highway interchange. The sampling strategy was planned based on three sources of information: budgetary breakdown of the project, observations by an industrial hygienist, and interviews with the workers and the contractor at the site. This information permitted the partition of road construction work into three components: (1) stage, (2) operation, and (3) specific task. A method to develop a sampling plan was designed based on this analysis. The pilot study measured exposures to noise, dust, respirable silica, and asphalt fumes on 25 operating engineers and laborers working on the road construction project. Noise exposure measurements were made in three stages during three operations. Full-shift noise data were collected on operating engineers using different types...

Collegium Ramazzini: Comments on the 2014 Helsinki consensus report on asbestos.

The Collegium Ramazzini is an international scientific society that examines critical issues in occupational and environmental medicine with a view towards action to prevent disease and promote health. The Collegium derives its name from Bernardino Ramazzini, the father of occupational medicine, a professor of medicine of the Universities of Modena and Padua in the late 1600s and the early 1700s. The Collegium is comprised of 180 physicians and scientists from 35 countries, each of whom is elected to membership. The Collegium is independent of commercial interests. TheCollegiumRamazzini recognizes thework of the 2014 expert committee convened by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) to update the 1997 and 2000 Helsinki criteria onAsbestos, Asbestosis, andCancer in light of newadvances in research.Thepublishedconsensus report of the Helsinki Committee [Wolff et al., 2015] and its more extensive on-line version (Helsinki Criteria Update 2014 Asbestos, Asbestosis, and Cancer) provide a valuable synthesis of many aspects of current knowledge of the hazards of asbestos. The Collegium Ramazzini is, however, very concerned about the sections of the 2014 Helsinki consensus report that discuss criteria for pathological diagnosis of the diseases caused by asbestos. The sections of the Helsinki report dealing with pathology diagnosis are based on a selective reading of the medical literature. They rely overly much on certain published articles [Srebro et al., 1995; Butnor et al., 2003; Roggli et al., 2010] while omitting reference to other important and highly relevant information. They are heavily influenced by the outdated and incorrect concept that analysis of lung tissue for asbestos fibers and asbestos bodies can provide data to contradict exposures that are documented in a reliable occupational history. Further, without any explanation the most accepted College of American Pathologists (CAP)-NIOSH 1982 asbestos definition which underwent extensive review and endorsement by NIOSH is now replaced in the 2014 Helsinki criteria by the more restrictive CAP/Pulmonary Pathology Society (PPS) modification which differs especially in the early histological stages of asbestosis and in the higher numbers of asbestos bodies needed to make the pathological diagnosis of asbestosis [Hammar and Abraham, 2015]. Applying the 2014 Helsinki report recommendations on pathology diagnosis will lead to:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis—A case report and mechanistic review of the association with toluene and other volatile organic compounds

Unmasking of latent neurodegenerative disease has been reported following exposure to chemicals that share one or more mechanisms of action in common with those implicated in the specific disease. For example, unmasking of latent Parkinsons disease (PD) has been associated with exposure to anti-dopaminergic agents, while the progression of pre-existing mild cognitive impairment and unmasking of latent Alzheimers disease has been associated with exposure to general anesthetic agents which promote Aβ protein aggregation. This literature review and clinical case report about a 45-year-old man with no family history of motor neuron disease who developed overt symptoms of a neuromuscular disorder in close temporal association with his unwitting occupational exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) puts forth the hypothesis that exposure to VOCs such as toluene, which disrupt motor function and increase oxidative stress, can unmask latent ALS type neuromuscular disorder in susceptible individuals.