title: An occupational exposure assessment of a perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride production site: biomonitoring.
abstract: This investigation randomly sampled a fluorochemical manufacturing employee population to determine the distribution of serum fluorochemical levels according to employees' jobs and work areas. Previous analyses of medical surveillance data have not shown significant associations between fluorochemical production employees' clinical chemistry and hematology tests and their serum PFOS and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA, C(7)F(15)COO(-)) concentrations, but may have been subject to nonparticipation bias. A random sample of the on-site film plant employee population, where fluorochemicals are not produced, determined their serum concentrations also. Of the 232 employees randomly selected for serum sampling, 186 (80%) employees participated (n=126 chemical plant; n=60 film plant). Sera samples were extracted using an ion-pairing extraction procedure and were quantitatively analyzed for seven fluorochemicals using high-pressure liquid chromatography electrospray tandem mass spectrometry methods. Geometric means (in parts per million) and 95% confidence intervals (in parentheses) of the random sample of 126 chemical plant employees were: PFOS 0.941 (0.787-1.126); PFOA 0.899 (0.722-1.120); perfluorohexanesulfonate 0.180 (0.145-0.223); N-ethyl perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetate 0.008 (0.006-0.011); N-methyl perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetate 0.081 (0.067-0.098); perfluorooctanesulfonamide 0.013 (0.009-0.018); and perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetate 0.022 (0.018-0.029). These geometric means were approximately one order of magnitude higher than those observed for the film plant employees.
authors.affiliation: Medical Department, 3M Co., St. Paul, MN 55144, USA.
authors.forename: Geary W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: Perry W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Logan
authors.forename: Kristen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Cathy A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Simpson
authors.forename: Jean M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Burris
authors.forename: Michele M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Burlew
authors.forename: Phanasouk P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Vorarath
authors.forename: Pothapragada
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Venkateswarlu
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Schumpert
authors.forename: Jeffrey H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Mandel
mesh_terms: D017738:Alkanesulfonic Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D002210:Caprylates / Q000032:analysis*; D002617:Chemical Industry; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005459:Fluorides / Q000032:analysis*; D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D009790:Occupations; D011897:Random Allocation; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017132:Workplace
chemical_list: D017738:Alkanesulfonic Acids; D002210:Caprylates; D005466:Fluorocarbons; C023036:perfluorooctanoic acid; C076994:perfluorooctane sulfonic acid; D005459:Fluorides