%0 Journal Article %T Use of breath analysis to monitor methylene chloride exposure. %A Stewart, Richard D. %A Hake, Carl L. %A Wu, Anthony %J Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health %D 1976 %8 June 2 %N 2 %@ 0355-3140 %F Stewart1976 %X

Twenty male and female subjects were exposed repetitively to methylene chloride (CH2Cl2) vapor, 50, 100, 250, and 500 ppm, for 1,3, or 7.5 h in a controlled-environment chamber. Postexposure alveolar breath samples were collected in small glass breath tubes and analyzed for CH2Cl2 by gas chromatography. From these data is a series of breath CH2Cl2 excretion curves were constructed that can be used to estimate the magnitude of a recent exposure. The CH2Cl2 breath concentration in the immediate postexposure period accurately reflected the vapor concentration to which the subjects had been exposed most recently. Breath samples collected 1-2 h following exposure were accurate indicators of the time-weighted average vapor exposure experienced by the subjects during the previous 8 h of occupational exposure. Breath analysis offers a practical, noninvasive method for monitoring occupational exposure to CH2Cl2.

%K breath analysis %K exposure %K methylene chloride %K methylene chloride exposure %K occupational monitoring %R 10.5271/sjweh.2817 %U https://www.sjweh.fi/show_abstract.php?abstract_id=2817 %U https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.2817 %P 57-70