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Occupational exposure to chemical agents in the paper industry

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Abstract

As part of an International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) international epidemiological study of workers in the pulp and paper industry, previously unpublished exposure measurements were assembled in a database. This article summarizes the results of 3,873 measurements carried out in the production departments of paper and paperboard mills and recycling plants in 12 countries. In the paper and paperboard mills, most of the agents were measured in the pulping and refining departments and in on-machine coating and winding of paper/paperboard. Exposures to asbestos, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, fungal spores, bacteria, nitrogen dioxide, minerals dusts, paper dust, sulphuric acid and different solvents sometimes exceeded exposure limit values. In the re-pulping and de-inking departments of recycling plants high exposures to formaldehyde, fungal spores, bacteria and paper dust were observed. High exposures to asbestos, bioaerosols, carbon monoxide and paper dust were found in many departments; ammonia, formaldehyde, mineral and paper dust and solvents were found in coating machines; and diphenyl and polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) were found in some special circumstances. Measurements in the newsprint and uncoated paper machine departments revealed only a few elevated exposures. In nearly all departments, measurements of epichlorohydrin, PCBs, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide and mercaptans tended to be low, often even below their detection limits. In spite of some uncertainties in the measurement data, the study provides new insights into the level and variation of occupational exposures of production workers in the paper and paperboard industry.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the following industrial hygienists, epidemiologists and other experts in the mills and research institutions for their contributions to this database: Aage Andersen, Shirley Fincham, Murray Finkelstein, Paul Henneberger, E. Hiltun, Danuta Kielkowski, Reiko Kishi, Jean Claude Limasset, Robert Rajan, Alain Robert, Maria Sala-Serra and Allison Tepper. Health hazard evaluation data of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) were included in the database. The valuable help of Agneta Hollander and Steve Prahacs (Canadian Pulp and Paper Association), and of Paavo Jäppinen (Stora Enso, Finland) in the construction of the classifications for this project is gratefully acknowledged. The study was partly supported by the European Commission BIOMED-1 and BIOMED-2 programmes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lappeenranta Regional Institute of Occupational Health, Laserkatu 6, 53850, Lappeenranta, Finland

    K. Korhonen & T. Liukkonen

  2. Bremen Institute for Prevention Research and Social Medicine (BIPS), Bremen, Germany

    W. Ahrens

  3. BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    G. Astrakianakis

  4. International Agency for Research on Cancer, Unit of Environmental Cancer Epidemiology, Lyon, France

    P. Boffetta

  5. Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    A. Burdorf

  6. Environmental and Occupational Health Group, University of Utrecht, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    D. Heederik

  7. Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Finland

    T. Kauppinen & A. Saalo

  8. Respiratory and Environmental Health Research Unit, Institut Municipal d’Investigacio Medica, Barcelona, Spain

    M. Kogevinas & J. Sunyer

  9. National Institute of Occupational Health, Oslo, Norway

    P. Osvoll

  10. Danish Cancer Society, Copenhagen, Denmark

    B. A. Rix

  11. Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Lodz, Poland

    I. Szadkowska-Stanczyk

  12. Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    K. Teschke

  13. Department of Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology, Örebro Medical Center Hospital, Örebro, Sweden

    H. Westberg

  14. Regional Sanitary Epidemiological Station, Bydgoszcz, Poland

    K. Widerkiewicz

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  1. K. Korhonen
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  2. T. Liukkonen
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  3. W. Ahrens
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  4. G. Astrakianakis
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  5. P. Boffetta
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  7. D. Heederik
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  8. T. Kauppinen
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  9. M. Kogevinas
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  10. P. Osvoll
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  11. B. A. Rix
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  12. A. Saalo
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  13. J. Sunyer
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  14. I. Szadkowska-Stanczyk
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  15. K. Teschke
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  16. H. Westberg
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  17. K. Widerkiewicz
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Correspondence to K. Korhonen.

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Korhonen, K., Liukkonen, T., Ahrens, W. et al. Occupational exposure to chemical agents in the paper industry. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 77, 451–460 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-004-0530-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-004-0530-5

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