An epidemiological study on carbon disulfide angiopathy in a Chinese viscose rayon factory

To assess long-term vascular effects of occupational carbon disulfide (CS2) exposure, we examined 376 exposed and 325 unexposed Chinese workers with a medical and work-history questionnaire, a chest-pain questionnaire, blood pressure and blood cholesterol measurements, routine urinary tests, monochromatic fundus photography and other tests. Data from 354 exposed and 177 age- and sex-matched reference workers were evaluated. Personal exposure monitorings were performed simultaneously with a passive dosimeter using gas chromatography. Monochromatic fundus photography revealed no CS2-retinopathy characterized by microaneurysms and/or small dot hemorrhages, and no effects of CS2 on blood pressure and blood cholesterol were found. These negative results may have been due to the low daily exposure averages, which varied between 0.01 and 12.8, with a mean of 1.5 ppm. The present study suggested that the no-effect level of CS2 exposure on the development of retinopathy was around 2 ppm (8-h time weighted average), and the absence of adverse CS2 effects among the workers studied supported the current standard for occupational CS2 exposure of 10 mg m-3 in China.