Chromium exposure assessment of outdoor workers in Hudson County, NJ

A large quantity of chromate chemical production waste, containing hexavalent chromium, has been used as fill at over 150 sites in Hudson County, New Jersey. One site is in a state park, and several other sites are adjacent to the park. Blood and urinary chromium levels were compared between 17 employees at the Hudson County park and 35 employees from two other state parks. A limited number of soil and personal air samples were also taken. Urinary and RBC chromium levels between the two groups were similar, even after adjusting for potentially confounding variables. The air sampling results demonstrated slightly higher chromium levels at Hudson County, but these were still very low level in nature (mean = 0.18 micrograms/m3). These results call into question the utility of chromium biomonitoring under environmental exposure conditions.