乙二醇醚暴露與健康危害

Occupational Exposure and Health Effects of Ethylene Glycol Ethers

謝安慈(An-Tsz Hsieh) ； 祝年豐(Nain-Feng Chu) ； 劉紹興(Saou-Hsing Liou)

《中華職業醫學雜誌》 2卷1期 (1995/01) Pp. 239-245

摘要

乙二醇醚是一種對水及有機溶劑均有良好溶解性的溶劑，在工業上用途相當廣，潛在暴露的人數也相當多。此溶劑可經由腸胃道、呼吸道以及皮膚吸收進入 人體，尤其對皮膚滲透性極佳，因此經皮膚吸收造成的危害最為重要。乙二醇醚的酸性代謝物—烷氧醋酸在體內停留時間頗長，乙二醇單甲醚(EGME)的酸性代謝物MAA在人體內的半衰期可達77小時，因此其毒性對身體的危害最大。此類溶劑對人體可能造成的危害包括導致毒性腦病變、貧血、造血系統病變、生殖系統危害及胚胎發育危害等，另外動物實驗發現也可能造成免疫抑制、致癌性與致突變性等作用。由於此類溶劑的皮膚吸收作用很強，僅測量空氣中濃度作為暴露指標似乎並不恰當，以生物偵測技術測量尿中酸性代謝物含量，應為較可行評估暴露之方法。近幾年乙二醇醚的毒性已引起世界性的關注，除積極研訂較嚴格之暴露容許濃度外，尋求替代物也是目前政府與學界、業界努力的目標。

關鍵字

乙二醇醚 ； 烷氧醋酸 ； 生物偵測

並列摘要

Ethylene glycol ethers are useful solvents with widespread applications in industrial and commercial uses. The monomethyl and monoethyl ethers of ethylene glycol ethers an their acetates are teratogenic and embryotxic and cause testicular damage in laboratory animals, while the monobutyl ether causes hemolysis of the red blood cells. The adverse effects are attributed to the acid metabolites methoxy-, ethoxy- and butoxyacetic acid, respectively. The glycol ethers may readily enter the body by digestion, inhalation and dermal uptake. Because these solvents are well absorbed through the skin, ambient monitoring is by no means sufficient for the prevention of occupational diseases. For this purpose biological monitoring is the method of choice. Based on the potential toxicity of the ethylene glycol ethers, increased occupational health education, modification of current legislation and replacement of the E-series to P-series are the most important things that the employee and the government should to do now.

並列關鍵字

Ethylene glycol ethers ； alkyoxyacetic acid ； biological monitoring