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Health effects of long‐term mercury exposure among chloralkali plant workers
Author(s) -
Frumkin Howard,
Letz Richard,
Williams Phillip L.,
Gerr Fredric,
Pierce Marsha,
Sanders Amanda,
Elon Lisa,
Manning Claudine C.,
Woods James S.,
Hertzberg Vicki S.,
Mueller Patricia,
Taylor B. Brooks
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/1097-0274(200101)39:1<1::aid-ajim1>3.0.co;2-n
Subject(s) - medicine , mercury (programming language) , occupational medicine , urinary system , occupational exposure , environmental health , excretion , physiology , renal function , toxicology , computer science , biology , programming language
Background Inorganic mercury is toxic to the nervous system, kidneys, and reproductive system. We studied the health effects of mercury exposure among former employees of a chloralkali plant that operated from 1955 to 1994 in Georgia. Methods Former plant workers and unexposed workers from nearby employers were studied. Exposure was assessed with a job‐exposure matrix based on historical measurements and personnel records. Health outcomes were assessed with interviews, physical examinations, neurological and neurobehavioral testing, renal function testing, and urinary porphyrin measurements. Exposure–disease associations were assessed with multivariate modeling. Results Exposed workers reported more symptoms, and tended toward more physical examination abnormalities, than unexposed workers. Exposed workers performed worse than unexposed subjects on some quantitative tests of vibration sense, motor speed and coordination, and tremor, and on one test of cognitive function. Few findings remained significant when exposure was modeled as a continuous variable. Neither renal function nor porphyrin excretion was associated with mercury exposure. Conclusions Mercury‐exposed chloralkali plant workers reported more symptoms than unexposed controls, but no strong associations were demonstrated with neurological or renal function or with porphyrin excretion. Am. J. Ind. Med. 39:1–18, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.