HBM4EU chromates study: overall results and recommendations for the biomonitoring of occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium

HBM4EU chromates study team; Tiina Santonen; Simo P Porras; Beatrice Bocca; Radia Bousoumah; Radu Corneliu Duca; Karen S Galea; Lode Godderis; Thomas Göen; Emilie Hardy; Ivo Iavicoli; Beata Janasik; Kate Jones; Elizabeth Leese; Veruscka Leso; Henriqueta Louro; Nicole Majery; Sophie Ndaw; Hermínia Pinhal; Flavia Ruggieri; Maria J Silva; An van Nieuwenhuyse; Jelle Verdonck; Susana Viegas; Wojciech Wasowicz; Ovnair Sepai; Paul T J Scheepers; Bruno Costa Gomes

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.111984

HBM4EU chromates study: overall results and recommendations for the biomonitoring of occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium

HBM4EU chromates study team, Tiina Santonen, Simo P Porras, Beatrice Bocca, Radia Bousoumah, Radu Corneliu Duca, Karen S Galea, Lode Godderis, Thomas Göen, Emilie Hardy, Ivo Iavicoli, Beata Janasik, Kate Jones, Elizabeth Leese, Veruscka Leso, Henriqueta Louro, Nicole Majery, Sophie Ndaw, Hermínia Pinhal, Flavia RuggieriMaria J Silva, An van Nieuwenhuyse, Jelle Verdonck, Susana Viegas, Wojciech Wasowicz, Ovnair Sepai, Paul T J Scheepers, Bruno Costa Gomes

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Abstract

Exposure to hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] may occur in several occupational activities, e.g., welding, Cr(VI) electroplating and other surface treatment processes. The aim of this study was to provide EU relevant data on occupational Cr(VI) exposure to support the regulatory risk assessment and decision-making. In addition, the capability and validity of different biomarkers for the assessment of Cr(VI) exposure were evaluated. The study involved nine European countries and involved 399 workers in different industry sectors with exposures to Cr(VI) such as welding, bath plating, applying or removing paint and other tasks. We also studied 203 controls to establish a background in workers with no direct exposure to Cr(VI). We applied a cross-sectional study design and used chromium in urine as the primary biomonitoring method for Cr(VI) exposure. Additionally, we studied the use of red blood cells (RBC) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) for biomonitoring of exposure to Cr(VI). Personal measurements were used to study exposure to inhalable and respirable Cr(VI) by personal air sampling. Dermal exposure was studied by taking hand wipe samples. The highest internal exposures were observed in the use of Cr(VI) in electrolytic bath plating. In stainless steel welding the internal Cr exposure was clearly lower when compared to plating activities. We observed a high correlation between chromium urinary levels and air Cr(VI) or dermal total Cr exposure. Urinary chromium showed its value as a first approach for the assessment of total, internal exposure. Correlations between urinary chromium and Cr(VI) in EBC and Cr in RBC were low, probably due to differences in kinetics and indicating that these biomonitoring approaches may not be interchangeable but rather complementary. This study showed that occupational biomonitoring studies can be conducted successfully by multi-national collaboration and provide relevant information to support policy actions aiming to reduce occupational exposure to chemicals.

Original language	English
Article number	111984
Journal	Environmental Research
Volume	204
Issue number	Pt A
Early online date	4 Sept 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111984
Publication status	Published - Mar 2022

Keywords

Biomonitoring
Electroplating
Hexavalent chromium
Occupational exposure
Welding

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10.1016/j.envres.2021.111984

Santonen Env Res 2021 204Final published version, 3.04 MBLicence: CC BY

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HBM4EU chromates study team, Santonen, T., Porras, S. P., Bocca, B., Bousoumah, R., Duca, R. C., Galea, K. S., Godderis, L., Göen, T., Hardy, E., Iavicoli, I., Janasik, B., Jones, K., Leese, E., Leso, V., Louro, H., Majery, N., Ndaw, S., Pinhal, H., ... Costa Gomes, B. (2022). HBM4EU chromates study: overall results and recommendations for the biomonitoring of occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium. Environmental Research, 204(Pt A), Article 111984. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111984

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title = "HBM4EU chromates study: overall results and recommendations for the biomonitoring of occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium",

abstract = "Exposure to hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] may occur in several occupational activities, e.g., welding, Cr(VI) electroplating and other surface treatment processes. The aim of this study was to provide EU relevant data on occupational Cr(VI) exposure to support the regulatory risk assessment and decision-making. In addition, the capability and validity of different biomarkers for the assessment of Cr(VI) exposure were evaluated. The study involved nine European countries and involved 399 workers in different industry sectors with exposures to Cr(VI) such as welding, bath plating, applying or removing paint and other tasks. We also studied 203 controls to establish a background in workers with no direct exposure to Cr(VI). We applied a cross-sectional study design and used chromium in urine as the primary biomonitoring method for Cr(VI) exposure. Additionally, we studied the use of red blood cells (RBC) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) for biomonitoring of exposure to Cr(VI). Personal measurements were used to study exposure to inhalable and respirable Cr(VI) by personal air sampling. Dermal exposure was studied by taking hand wipe samples. The highest internal exposures were observed in the use of Cr(VI) in electrolytic bath plating. In stainless steel welding the internal Cr exposure was clearly lower when compared to plating activities. We observed a high correlation between chromium urinary levels and air Cr(VI) or dermal total Cr exposure. Urinary chromium showed its value as a first approach for the assessment of total, internal exposure. Correlations between urinary chromium and Cr(VI) in EBC and Cr in RBC were low, probably due to differences in kinetics and indicating that these biomonitoring approaches may not be interchangeable but rather complementary. This study showed that occupational biomonitoring studies can be conducted successfully by multi-national collaboration and provide relevant information to support policy actions aiming to reduce occupational exposure to chemicals.",

keywords = "Biomonitoring, Electroplating, Hexavalent chromium, Occupational exposure, Welding",

author = "{HBM4EU chromates study team} and Tiina Santonen and Porras, {Simo P} and Beatrice Bocca and Radia Bousoumah and Duca, {Radu Corneliu} and Galea, {Karen S} and Lode Godderis and Thomas G{\"o}en and Emilie Hardy and Ivo Iavicoli and Beata Janasik and Kate Jones and Elizabeth Leese and Veruscka Leso and Henriqueta Louro and Nicole Majery and Sophie Ndaw and Herm{\'i}nia Pinhal and Flavia Ruggieri and Silva, {Maria J} and {van Nieuwenhuyse}, An and Jelle Verdonck and Susana Viegas and Wojciech Wasowicz and Ovnair Sepai and Scheepers, {Paul T J} and {Costa Gomes}, Bruno",

year = "2022",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1016/j.envres.2021.111984",

language = "English",

volume = "204",

journal = "Environmental Research",

issn = "0013-9351",

publisher = "Academic Press | Elsevier",

number = "Pt A",

}

HBM4EU chromates study team, Santonen, T, Porras, SP, Bocca, B, Bousoumah, R, Duca, RC, Galea, KS, Godderis, L, Göen, T, Hardy, E, Iavicoli, I, Janasik, B, Jones, K, Leese, E, Leso, V, Louro, H, Majery, N, Ndaw, S, Pinhal, H, Ruggieri, F, Silva, MJ, van Nieuwenhuyse, A, Verdonck, J, Viegas, S, Wasowicz, W, Sepai, O, Scheepers, PTJ & Costa Gomes, B 2022, 'HBM4EU chromates study: overall results and recommendations for the biomonitoring of occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium', Environmental Research, vol. 204, no. Pt A, 111984. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111984

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T1 - HBM4EU chromates study

T2 - overall results and recommendations for the biomonitoring of occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium

AU - HBM4EU chromates study team

AU - Santonen, Tiina

AU - Porras, Simo P

AU - Bocca, Beatrice

AU - Bousoumah, Radia

AU - Duca, Radu Corneliu

AU - Galea, Karen S

AU - Godderis, Lode

AU - Göen, Thomas

AU - Hardy, Emilie

AU - Iavicoli, Ivo

AU - Janasik, Beata

AU - Jones, Kate

AU - Leese, Elizabeth

AU - Leso, Veruscka

AU - Louro, Henriqueta

AU - Majery, Nicole

AU - Ndaw, Sophie

AU - Pinhal, Hermínia

AU - Ruggieri, Flavia

AU - Silva, Maria J

AU - van Nieuwenhuyse, An

AU - Verdonck, Jelle

AU - Viegas, Susana

AU - Wasowicz, Wojciech

AU - Sepai, Ovnair

AU - Scheepers, Paul T J

AU - Costa Gomes, Bruno

PY - 2022/3

Y1 - 2022/3

N2 - Exposure to hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] may occur in several occupational activities, e.g., welding, Cr(VI) electroplating and other surface treatment processes. The aim of this study was to provide EU relevant data on occupational Cr(VI) exposure to support the regulatory risk assessment and decision-making. In addition, the capability and validity of different biomarkers for the assessment of Cr(VI) exposure were evaluated. The study involved nine European countries and involved 399 workers in different industry sectors with exposures to Cr(VI) such as welding, bath plating, applying or removing paint and other tasks. We also studied 203 controls to establish a background in workers with no direct exposure to Cr(VI). We applied a cross-sectional study design and used chromium in urine as the primary biomonitoring method for Cr(VI) exposure. Additionally, we studied the use of red blood cells (RBC) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) for biomonitoring of exposure to Cr(VI). Personal measurements were used to study exposure to inhalable and respirable Cr(VI) by personal air sampling. Dermal exposure was studied by taking hand wipe samples. The highest internal exposures were observed in the use of Cr(VI) in electrolytic bath plating. In stainless steel welding the internal Cr exposure was clearly lower when compared to plating activities. We observed a high correlation between chromium urinary levels and air Cr(VI) or dermal total Cr exposure. Urinary chromium showed its value as a first approach for the assessment of total, internal exposure. Correlations between urinary chromium and Cr(VI) in EBC and Cr in RBC were low, probably due to differences in kinetics and indicating that these biomonitoring approaches may not be interchangeable but rather complementary. This study showed that occupational biomonitoring studies can be conducted successfully by multi-national collaboration and provide relevant information to support policy actions aiming to reduce occupational exposure to chemicals.

AB - Exposure to hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] may occur in several occupational activities, e.g., welding, Cr(VI) electroplating and other surface treatment processes. The aim of this study was to provide EU relevant data on occupational Cr(VI) exposure to support the regulatory risk assessment and decision-making. In addition, the capability and validity of different biomarkers for the assessment of Cr(VI) exposure were evaluated. The study involved nine European countries and involved 399 workers in different industry sectors with exposures to Cr(VI) such as welding, bath plating, applying or removing paint and other tasks. We also studied 203 controls to establish a background in workers with no direct exposure to Cr(VI). We applied a cross-sectional study design and used chromium in urine as the primary biomonitoring method for Cr(VI) exposure. Additionally, we studied the use of red blood cells (RBC) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) for biomonitoring of exposure to Cr(VI). Personal measurements were used to study exposure to inhalable and respirable Cr(VI) by personal air sampling. Dermal exposure was studied by taking hand wipe samples. The highest internal exposures were observed in the use of Cr(VI) in electrolytic bath plating. In stainless steel welding the internal Cr exposure was clearly lower when compared to plating activities. We observed a high correlation between chromium urinary levels and air Cr(VI) or dermal total Cr exposure. Urinary chromium showed its value as a first approach for the assessment of total, internal exposure. Correlations between urinary chromium and Cr(VI) in EBC and Cr in RBC were low, probably due to differences in kinetics and indicating that these biomonitoring approaches may not be interchangeable but rather complementary. This study showed that occupational biomonitoring studies can be conducted successfully by multi-national collaboration and provide relevant information to support policy actions aiming to reduce occupational exposure to chemicals.

KW - Biomonitoring

KW - Electroplating

KW - Hexavalent chromium

KW - Occupational exposure

KW - Welding

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DO - 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111984

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VL - 204

JO - Environmental Research

JF - Environmental Research

IS - Pt A

M1 - 111984

ER -

HBM4EU chromates study: overall results and recommendations for the biomonitoring of occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium

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