Effect of soldering fumes with special reference to the respiratory tract--results of an epidemiologic cross-sectional study
Wallenstein, G.; Schulz, P.; Sprecher, D.; Dietz, E.
Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Hygiene und ihre Grenzgebiete 33(1): 44-47
1987
ISSN/ISBN: 0049-8610 PMID: 3495935 Document Number: 299444
In a cross-sectional study 469 solderers of the electrical industry (colophony-containing fluxing agents) and 367 control persons were examined: anamnesis, clinical check-up, lung function test and olfactory sense test. The exposure was evaluated according to the intensity of exposure and to the daily soldering time. At colophony soldering fume concentrations (sum of aldehydes, calculated as HCHO) of > 0.1 mg/m3 solderers significantly more frequently suffered from dryness of the nose, obstructive difficulty of breathing and bronchial asthma than the control group and the solderers of the little exposed groups. Pathogenetically, it prevailingly concerns irritative effects at high soldering fume concentrations. For limiting the exposure to a level acceptable from the view of industrial medicine and hygiene, the introduction of induction threshold values for colophony pyrolysis products was suggested for the GDR, expressed by the sum of aliphatic aldehydes, calculated as HCHO and determined according to the MBTH method at the height of 0.1 mg/m3 (TLV) and 0.2 mg/m3 (TLV).