RESEARCH - Occupational exposures of hairdressers to vinyl chloride in hairspray during the 1960s and 1970s

[Guest guest]

Risk Anal. 2009 Dec;29(12):1699-725. Epub 2009 Nov 23.

The use of multizone models to estimate an airborne chemical

contaminant generation and decay profile: occupational exposures of

hairdressers to vinyl chloride in hairspray during the 1960s and

1970s.

Sahmel J, Unice K, P, Cowan D, Paustenbach D.

Vinyl chloride (VC) was used as a propellant in a limited percentage

of aerosol hairspray products in the United States from approximately

1967 to 1973. The question has arisen whether occupational exposures

of hairdressers to VC-containing hairsprays in hair salons were

sufficient to increase the risk for developing hepatic angiosarcoma

(HAS). Transient two-zone and steady-state three-zone models were used

to estimate the historical airborne concentration of VC for individual

hairdressers using hairspray as well as estimated contributions from

other hairdressers in the same salon. Concentrations of VC were

modeled for small, medium, and large salons, as well as a

representative home salon. Model inputs were determined using

published literature, and variability in these inputs was also

considered using Monte Carlo techniques. The 95th percentile for the

daily time-weighted average exposure for small, medium, and large

salons, assuming a market-share fraction of VC-containing hairspray

use from the Monte Carlo analysis, was about 0.3 ppm, and for the home

salon scenario was 0.1 ppm. The 95th percentile value for the

cumulative lifetime exposure of the hairdressers was 2.8 ppm-years for

the home salon scenario and 2.0 ppm-years for the small, medium, and

large salon scenarios. If using the assumption that all hairsprays

used in a salon contained VC, the 95th percentile of the theoretical

lifetime cumulative dose was estimated to be 52-79 ppm-years.

Estimated lifetime doses were all below the threshold dose for HAS of

about 300 to 500 ppm-years reported in the published epidemiology

literature.

PMID: 19948002

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19948002

Not an MD