Styrene revisited--exposure assessment and risk estimation in reinforced plastics industry

A survey performed in 32 workshops in reinforced plastics industry showed the mean TWA 8 h concentration of styrene in personal air to be 43 ppm (range 5-182 ppm) among laminators and 11 ppm (range 1-133 ppm) among other workers. The biological measurement of urinary mandelic acid + phenylglyoxylic acid showed mean values of 2.4 mmol/l among laminators without respirators and 1.3 mmol/l when respirators were used. No effects of work related exposure were detected in the cytogenetic parameters, chromosome aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges or micronuclei analyzed in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Grading of the exposure on the basis of lamination method, years of exposure, daily laminating time, air styrene concentration and urinary mandelic acid among laminators, neither revealed any dose dependency.