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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] testing for aromatic amines
Date: Monday, March 17, 2014 2:38:31 PM
Author: paracelcusbombastusvon**At_Symbol_Here**juno.com <paracelcusbombastusvon**At_Symbol_Here**JUNO.COM> 		Next by Date:
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety news from OSHA
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 16:16:10 -0400
Author: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety"

From: Heinz Trebitz <iht63**At_Symbol_Here**WAVECOMM.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] testing for aromatic amines
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 15:35:58 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 371382259BBC4797A56B6162CC9C6ACF**At_Symbol_Here**HeinzPC
In-Reply-To <4759C02EA3685D4AB7DF8B5A694A924E73FA8BFD**At_Symbol_Here**ECS-EXG-P-MB05.win.lanl.gov>


To Samantha D.
 
In addition to analytical testing some research might be in order about the history of the warehouse and specifically whether at any time in the past it was used for the storage of industrial chemicals, including aromatic amines. The most likely place to find these amines would be old wooden floors that readily absorb any spills, especially if they happen to be liquids. Wipe tests would probably be negative if performed on recently installed walls. Testing for these amines, adsorbed to surfaces or airborne, especially at low concentrations, would not be cheap. Hence the question whether there is a likelihood of their presence.
 
You might also consider the fact that not all aromatic amines are causing bladder cancer. Typically, exposure to benzidine and dichlorobenzidine as well as o-toluidine has been associated with the occurrence of bladder cancer. With these a latency period of 10 years or more has been observed in industrial workers. However, those workers experienced much higher exposures than would be likely in a case of residual contamination.
 
Sincerely
 
Heinz Trebitz, Ph.D.
 
 
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 2:19 PM
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] testing for aromatic amines
 

The following is a straight forward analytical method for sampling for the presence of aromatic amines on surfaces:

 

R.W. Weeks, Jr. et al., "Detection Limits of Chemical Spot Tests Toward Certain Carcinogens on Metal, Painted, and Concrete Surfaces", Anal. Chem., 48, 2227 (1976)

 

Also, a Google search gives quite a few sources of determining the airborne concentration of aromatic amines.

 

Truly,

 

Bob

 

From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of Samantha D
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 10:34 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] testing for aromatic amines

 

Hi all,

A very good friend of mine sent me this email. Her son lives and works in Seattle, WA and my training is all NY based so I'm at a little bit of a loss. My initial reaction was to have to speak with the safety officers at the warehouse and then ask EPA about people who can test for this sort of thing but I'm not sure if I'm missing something. Please let me know what you think.

Sam

This is a copy of the email she sent me:

Where can I find information about environmental testing for aromatic amines or aryl amines?  I do not know very much about them except that they are considered the cause of bladder cancer (even the carcinogen in cigarettes is supposed to be the aromatic amine).

The reason for this inquiry into things I know nothing about is that [my son] has bladder cancer and the cause is usually environmental.  I would like to figure out a way to test his current environment so that his cancer does not recur.  It is a low grade urothelial papilloma with a high chance of recurrence but almost no chance of invasion or metatasis.  There is a mechanism that the body has for processing (N-acetytransferase) and there are fast and slow genetic types and obviousy the slow type has a higher incidence of cancer.

Where he currently works and lives is an old warehouse with a machine ship.  If there is an on going exposure, it would be good to know now.



--

Samantha Dannenberg-Lushtak

Queens College, CUNY

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