[Hygienic regulation of dust of magnesium-silicate minerals and fireproof materials]

Chronic experiments on rats showed that the dust of silicomagnesian refractory and dunite (a raw material for refractory production) extracted in Kytlym differ insignificantly in fibrogenic activity, but rank below the quartzite extracted in Pervouralsk (MAC-1 mg/cu m). The short study analyzing the cytologic changes of bronchoalveolar lavage determined the cytotoxicity of silicomagnesian refractory and 4 other types of dunite. The estimated cytotoxicity also ranked below that of quartzite from Pervouralsk. The MAC equal to 4 mg/cu m was suggested for the group of aerosols produced by dunite and silicomagnesian refractories. These aerosols are assigned to the 3rd jeopardy class and possess basically fibrogenic activity.