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Ceramics manufacturing contributes to ambient silica air pollution and burden of lung disease

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Abstract

Inhalation of silica (SiO2) in occupational exposures can cause pulmonary fibrosis (silicosis), lung function deficits, pulmonary inflammation, and lung cancer. Current risk assessment models, however, cannot fully explain the magnitude of silica-induced pulmonary disease risk. The purpose of this study was to assess human health risk exposed to airborne silica dust in Taiwan ceramics manufacturing. We conducted measurements to characterize workplace-specific airborne silica dust in tile and commodity ceramic factories and used physiologically based alveolar exposure model to estimate exposure dose. We constructed dose–response models for describing relationships between exposure dose and inflammatory responses, by which health risks among workers can be assessed. We found that silica contents were 0.22–33.04 % with mean concentration ranges of 0.11–5.48 and 0.46–1763.30 μg m−3, respectively, in commodity and tile ceramic factories. We showed that granulation workers in tile ceramic factory had the highest total SiO2 lung burden (∼1000 mg) with cumulative SiO2 lung burden of ∼4 × 104 mg-year. The threshold estimates with an effect on human lung inflammation and fibrosis are 407.31 ± 277.10 (mean ± sd) and 505.91 ± 231.69 mg, respectively. For granulation workers, long-term exposure to airborne silica dust for 30–45 years was likely to pose severe adverse health risks of inflammation and fibrosis. We provide integrated assessment algorithms required to implement the analyses and maintain resulting concentration of silica dust at safety threshold level in the hope that they will stimulate further analyses and interpretation. We suggest that decision-makers take action to implement platforms for effective risk management to prevent the related long-term occupational disease in ceramics manufacturing.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported in part by Ministry of Science and Technology, Republic of China under Grant MOST 100-2313-B-002-012-MY3.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Chung-Min Liao, Bo-Chun Wu, Yi-Hsien Cheng, Shu-Han You & Yi-Jun Lin

  2. National Environmental Health Research Center, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli County, 35053, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Shu-Han You

  3. Institute of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health, Ministry of Labor, Executive Yuan, New Taipei City, 22143, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Nan-Hung Hsieh

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  1. Chung-Min Liao
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  2. Bo-Chun Wu
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Liao, CM., Wu, BC., Cheng, YH. et al. Ceramics manufacturing contributes to ambient silica air pollution and burden of lung disease. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 15067–15079 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4701-6

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