Occupational Asthma - Occupations at Risk

Occupations At Risk

The following tables show occupations that are known to be at risk for occupational asthma, and main substances involved.

Yet, the riskiest occupations for asthma are: adhesive handlers (e.g. acrylate), animal handlers and veterinarians (animal proteins), bakers and millers (cereal grains), carpet makers (gums), electronics workers (soldering resin), forest workers, carpenters and cabinetmakers (wood dust), hairdressers (e.g. persulfate), health care workers (latex and chemicals such as glutaraldehyde), janitors and cleaning staff (e.g. chloramine-T), pharmaceutical workers (drugs, enzymes), seafood processors, shellac handlers (e.g. amines), solderers and refiners (metals), spray painters, insulation installers, plastics and foam industry workers (e.g. diisocyanates), textile workers (dyes) and users of plastics and epoxy resins (e.g. anhydrides)

Grains, flours, plants and gums
Occupation	Agent
Bakers, millers	Wheat
Chemists, coffee bean baggers and handlers, gardeners, millers, oil industry workers, farmers	Castor beans
Cigarette factory workers	Tobacco dust
Drug manufacturers, mold makers in sweet factories, printers	Gum acacia
Farmers, grain handlers	Grain dust
Gum manufacturers, sweet makers	Gum tragacanth
Strawberry growers	Strawberry pollen
Tea sifters and packers	Tea dust
Tobacco farmers	Tobacco leaf
Woollen industry workers	Wool

Animals, insects and fungi
Occupation	Agent
Bird fanciers	Avian proteins
Cosmetic manufacturers	Carmine
Entomologists	Moths, butterflies
Feather pluckers	Feathers
Field contact workers	Crickets
Fish bait breeders	Bee moths
Flour mill workers, bakers, farm workers, grain handlers	Grain storage mites, alternaria, aspergillus
Laboratory workers	Locusts, cockroaches, grain weevils, rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits
Mushroom cultivators	Mushroom spores
Oyster farmers	Sea pineapples (Hoya)
Pea sorters	Mexican bean weevils
Pigeon breeders	Pigeons
Poultry workers	Chickens
Prawn processors	Prawns
Silkworm sericulturers	Silkworms
Zoological museum curators	Beetles

Chemicals/Materials
Occupation	Agent
Aircraft fitters	Triethyltetramine
Aluminum cable solderers	Aminoethylethanolamine
Aluminum pot room workers	Fluorine
Autobody workers	Acrylates (resins, glues, sealants, adhesives)
Brewery workers	Chloramine-T
Chemical plant workers, pulp mill workers	Chlorine
Dye weighers	Levafix brilliant yellow, drimarene brilliant yellow and blue, cibachrome brilliant scarlet
Electronics workers	Colophony
Epoxy resin manufacturers	Tetrachlorophthalic anhydride
Foundry mold makers	Furan-based resin binder systems
Fur dyers	Para-phenylenediamine
Hairdressers	Persulphate salts
Health care workers	Glutaraldehyde, latex
Laboratory workers, nurses, phenolic resin molders	Formaldehyde
Meat wrappers	Polyvinyl chloride vapour
Paint manufacturers, plastic molders, tool setters	Phthalic anhydride
Paint sprayers	Dimethylethanolamine
Photographic workers, shellac manufacturers	Ethylenediamine
Refrigeration industry workers	CFCs
Solderers	Polyether alcohol, polypropylene glycol

Isocyanates and metals
Occupation	Agent
Boat builders, foam manufacturers, office workers, plastics factory workers, refrigerator manufacturers, TDI manufacturers/users, printers, laminators, tinners, toy makers	TDI
Boiler cleaners, gas turbine cleaners	Vanadium
Car sprayers	Hexamethylene diisocyanate
Cement workers	Potassium dichromate
Chrome platers, chrome polishers	Sodium bichromate, chromic acid, potassium chromate
Nickel platers	Nickel sulphate
Platinum chemists	Chloroplatinic acid
Platinum refiners	Platinum salts
Polyurethane foam manufacturers, printers, laminators	Diphenylmethane diisocyanate
Rubber workers	Naphthalene diisocyanate
Tungsten carbide grinders	Cobalt
Welders	Stainless steel fumes

Drugs and enzymes
Occupation	Agent
Ampicillin manufacturers	Phenylglycine acid chloride
Detergent manufacturers	Bacillus subtilis
Enzyme manufacturers	Fungal alpha-amylase
Food technologists, laboratory workers	Papain
Pharmacists	Gentian powder, flaviastase
Pharmaceutical workers	Methyldopa, salbutamol, dichloramine, piperazine dihydrochloride, spiramycin, penicillins, sulphathiazole, sulphonechloramides, chloramine-T, phosdrin, pancreatic extracts
Poultry workers	Amprolium hydrochloride
Process workers, plastic polymer production workers	Trypsin, bromelin

Woods
Occupation	Agent
Carpenters, timber millers, woodworkers	Western red cedar, cedar of Lebanon, iroko, California redwood, ramin, African zebrawood
Sawmill workers, pattern makers	Mansonia, oak, mahogany, abiruana
Wood finishers	Cocabolla
Wood machinists	Kejaat

Read more about this topic: Occupational Asthma

Famous quotes containing the words occupations and/or risk:

“A few ideas seem to be agreed upon. Help none but those who help themselves. Educate only at schools which provide in some form for industrial education. These two points should be insisted upon. Let the normal instruction be that men must earn their own living, and that by the labor of their hands as far as may be. This is the gospel of salvation for the colored man. Let the labor not be servile, but in manly occupations like that of the carpenter, the farmer, and the blacksmith.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)

“Nature, we are starting to realize, is every bit as important as nurture. Genetic influences, brain chemistry, and neurological development contribute strongly to who we are as children and what we become as adults. For example, tendencies to excessive worrying or timidity, leadership qualities, risk taking, obedience to authority, all appear to have a constitutional aspect.”
—Stanley Turecki (20th century)