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Title: Opportunities and challenges in reducing personal inhalation exposure to air pollution among electronic waste recovery workers in Ghana.

Authors: Laskaris, Zoey; Batterman, Stuart A; Arko-Mensah, John; Mukherjee, Bhramar; Fobil, Julius N; O'Neill, Marie S; Robins, Thomas G

Published In Am J Ind Med, (2021 05)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Informal sector electronic waste (e-waste) recovery produces toxic emissions resulting from burning e-waste to recover valuable metals. OBJECTIVES: To identify high-risk worker groups by measuring relative levels of personal inhalation exposure to particulate matter (PM) of fine (≤2.5 µm) and coarse (2.5-10 µm) fractions (PM2.5 and PM2.5-10, respectively) across work activities among e-waste workers, and to assess how wind conditions modify levels of PM by activity and site location. METHODS: At the Agbogbloshie e-waste site, 170 partial-shift PM samples and time-activity data were collected from participants (N = 105) enrolled in the GeoHealth cohort study. Personal sampling included continuous measures of size-specific PM from the worker's breathing zone and time-activity derived from wearable cameras. Linear mixed models were used to estimate changes in personal PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 associated with activities and evaluate effect modification by wind conditions. RESULTS: Mean (±standard deviation) personal PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 concentrations were 80 (±  81) and 123 (± 139) µg m-3 , respectively. The adjusted mean PM2.5 concentration for burning e-waste was 88 µg m-3 , a 28% increase above concentrations during non-recovery activities (such as eating). Transportation-related and burning activities were associated with the highest PM2.5-10 concentrations. Frequent changes in wind direction were associated with higher PM2.5 concentrations when burning, and high wind speeds with higher PM2.5-10 concentrations when dismantling e-waste downwind of the burning zone.

PubMed ID: 33522624 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Air Pollutants/analysis; Air Pollution/analysis*; Electronic Waste*; Environmental Monitoring; Ghana; Humans; Inhalation Exposure/analysis*; Inhalation Exposure/prevention & control; Metals; Occupational Exposure/analysis*; Occupational Exposure/prevention & control; Particulate Matter/analysis; Transportation; Waste Management*

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