Addendum to arsenic and inorganic arsenic compounds (with the exception of arsine)
Assessment Values in Biological Material – Translation of the German version from 2016
Elke Ochsmann1Thomas Göen2
Bernhard Michalke3
Wobbeke Weistenhöfer2
Katrin Klotz2
Hans Drexler2 (Head of the working group “Assessment Values in Biological Material” of the Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
Andrea Hartwig4 (Chair of the Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
MAK Commission5
1 University Hospital Schleswig‐Holstein, Institute of Occupational Medicine, Prevention and Occupational Health Management, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
2 Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institute and Outpatient Clinic of Occupational, Social, and Environmental Medicine, Henkestraße 9–11, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
3 Helmholtz Zentrum München, German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Research Unit Analytical BioGeoChemistry, Ingolstädter Landstraße 1, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
4 Institute of Applied Biosciences, Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Adenauerring 20a, Building 50.41, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
5 Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Kennedyallee 40, 53175 Bonn, Germany
Abstract
The German Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area has re‐evaluated the “Biologischer Arbeitsstoff‐Referenzwert” (BAR) as well as the exposure equivalents for carcinogenic substances (EKA) for arsenic and inorganic arsenic compounds (with the exception of arsenic hydride). Available publications are described in detail.
The quantification of the various arsenic species is essential to understand the hazardous potential of the arsenic compounds which differ highly in their toxicity. Therefore the BAR for the sum of different arsenic species is no longer valid. Considering published data from occupational not exposed persons, new BAR for the arsenic species of 0.5 µg/l urine for arsenic (+III), 0.5 µg/l urine for arsenic (+V), 2 µg/l urine for monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and 10 µg/l urine for dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) were evaluated. The differentiation of arsenic species now allows for the estimation of the individual health risks taking into account special influences like seafood consumption. Sampling time is at the end of exposure or the end of the working shift and after long term exposure at the end of the working shift after several shifts.
Data of a correlation of arsenic in the air and the sum of the arsenic species in urine were considered for the evaluation of the exposure equivalents for carcinogenic substances. This correlation is in good accordance with the EKA correlation of arsenic trioxide, which is based on former studies in which also the urinary concentrations of the sum of As (+III), As (+V), MMA and DMA were measured. Sampling time is at the end of exposure or the end of the working shift and after long term exposure at the end of the working shift after several shifts.
