Occupational contact dermatitis from carnosol

Information Section nature of this pesticide and the extreme care with which it should be handled. Three deaths involved sprayers (one with a leaking backpack, one whose face was soaked with the pesticide after he sprayed into the wind, and a third with no exceptional exposure circumstances). A 10-year-old boy died with minor skin lesions on his legs after working in a sprayed plantation. Two other deaths resulted from spillages of the concentrate on the legs or of the dilute solution on face and mouth. The remaining nine deal,s were due to the ingestion of paraquat, five after drinking a mouthful of the concentrate (because of a confusion of bottles), another two after eating with contaminated hands, one after drinking water from a used measuring cup, and one after transferring paraquat concentrate by sucking through a hose. The Swedish investigators noted that the addition of colouring and stenching compounds to the commercial formulation of paraquat in 1987 *has contributed substantially to pre~¢ent the most extreme oral exposures" (all fatalities associated with confusion of bottles occurred before 1987). However, fatal paraquat poisoning.,;from dermal or low-dose oral exposure are still a serious risk "under circumstances that .,~pposedly should not imply major health risks" (Wesseling C. et al., American Journal of Industrial Medicine 1997, 32, 433).

Low dose effecll of malathion in mice In a 90-day study conducted in the US, this widely used pesticide produced mast cell degranulation in the skin, peritoneura and uterus and subtle effects on the lungs of female mice given 0.1 mg/kg body weight/day by stomach tube, the lowest dose tested (Rodgers K. and Xiong S., Toxicology Letters 1997, 93, 73).

Miconazole genatoxic in mice An Egyptian investigator reports that this antifungal agent produced dose-related increases in abnormal sperm and in chromosome damage in the bone marrow and primary spermatocytes, when given at low doses by intraperitoneal injection to mice (t'Iassan N.H.A., Journal of Applied Toxicology 1997, 17, 313).

I, I -Dichloro- 1-fluoroethane kills worker 1,1-Dichloro-l-fluoroethane, a potential replacement for trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) in foam-blowing operations and as a cleaning agent, caused death in a 40.year-old man using the pure solvent to clean a degreasing tank. Postmortem examination revealed a violet coloration of the face, swelling of the face and lungs, and increased concentrations of the solvent especially in the

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blood, liver and heart. Considering the potential for exposure in humans as its use increases, the investigators called for studies on, and guidelines for, the safe handling of 1,1-dichloro-l-fluoroethane (Astier A. and Paraire F., New England ]ournal of Medicine 1997, 337, 940).

Toluene-induced hearing loss? Exposure to toluene has been associated with hearing loss in Brazilian printing workers who were occupationally exposed to various levels of noise and organic solvents. Around half of these 124 workers suffered from high-frequency hearing loss in both ears, and there was a significant association between this condition and a biological index of toluene exposure (urinary hippuric acid). The hearing defidts were occurring at biological exposure levels below those considered acceptable by the ACGIH (Morata T.C. et aL, Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health 1997, 23, 289).

Occupational contact dermatitis from camosol "The first reported case of contact dermatitis from carnosol', a naturally-occurring compound present in rosemary, has been described in a 56-year-old man who had worked "for several years" in a food processing factory adding spices and additives to sausages. The patient developed severe dermatitis of the hands, forearms and face a few weeks after starting work with Rosmanox, an extract of the leaves of Rosemary. Patch tests with 5% Rosmanox in petrolatum and 0.1% pure carnosol in ethanol confirmed the sensitized state (Hjorther A.B. et al., Contact Dermatitis 1997, 37, 99). O c c u p a t i o n a l asthma from amylase... Enzymes are well recognized and potent inducers of occupational asthma, but the risks associated with using amylase in histopathology laboratories, evidently a widespread practice, are perhaps not fully appreciated. A case is presented of a UK laboratory technician who developed this disease, 4-6 months after he started using an anhydrous powder preparation of pig pancreatic amylase. The diagnosis was confirmed by double-blind challenges with the powder, which induced immediate and late asthmatic reactions (Aiken T.C. et aL, Occupational and Environmental Medicine 1997, 54, 762). ... a n d from isothiazoUnones A case report has been published describing the development of asthma in a man who was occupationally exposed to various isothiazolinone