I am Mr. Edward J . B aier, Deputy D ire c to r of the N atio nal I n s titu te fo r O ccupational S afety and H ealth (NIOSH) adm inistered by th e C enter fo r D isease C ontrol w ith in the Department of H ealth, E ducation, and W elfare. W ith me today a re : Dr. Joseph K. Wagoner, Dr. P eter F. In fa n te , Dr. R obert N. Ligo and Dr. V icto r E. A rcher, D iv isio n of S u rv e illa n c e , Hazard E valuations and F ield S tu d ies; Dr. David H. G roth, D iv isio n of B iom edical and B ehavioral S ciences; Dr. Jan et C. H aartz and Mr. John Sheehy, D iv isio n of P h y sical Sciences and E ngineering; Dr. Douglas L. Sm ith, D iv isio n of C rite ria Documentation and Standards Development, and Mr. R obert H. S chutz, T esting and C e rtific a tio n Branch.
We welcome th is o p p o rtu n ity to appear here today to d iscu ss th e e ff e c ts of o ccu p ation al exposure to bery lliu m upon human h e a lth , in clu d in g th e r e s u lts of re c e n t stu d ie s conducted by NIOSH.
Since th e e a rly 1940s, evidence in c re a sin g ly has dem onstrated th e presence of beryllium -induced n o n -n eo p lastic re s p ira to ry d ise a se s ( b e r y llio s is ) and th e ir sequelae among workers employed in in d u s trie s producing and using beryllium and i t s compounds^-. Cases of b e r y llio s is a lso have been id e n tifie d among in d iv id u a ls liv in g near th ese in d u s tr ia l f a c ilitie s^-. This accum ulation of evidence led to a NIOSH recom mendation, tra n sm itte d as a c r i t e r i a document to OSHA in 1972, th a t o ccu p atio n al exposure to beryllium be lim ite d to 2 micrograms of to ta l a irb o rn e p a r tic u la te beryllium per cubic m eter of a i r (2 ug Be/m^) based on an 8-hour tim e w eighted average (TWA)^. in a d d itio n , NIOSH recommended a t th a t tim e th a t no w orker be exposed to peak c o n c en tratio n s of beryllium in excess of 25 ug Be/m^ based on th ir ty m inutes sam pling p e rio d s. That stan d ard was recommended w ith the b e lie f th a t i t would "prevent th e developm ent of acute and chronic n o n -n eo p lastic re s p ira to ry d ise a se in w orkers exposed to b e ry lliu m ." That stan d ard was not recommended w ith the s ta te d b e lie f th a t i t would prevent beryllium -induced can cer, as th e human stu d ie s a v a ila b le a t th a t tim e were judged to be c o n tra d ic ta ry , and th us NIOSH concluded th a t th e humaii evidence did not support anim al stu d ie s dem onstrating beryllium to be a carcinog en .
In 1975, OSHA req u ested NIOSH to re -e v a lu a te th e in fo rm atio n a v a ila b le on th e adverse h e a lth e ff e c ts of occu p atio n al exposure to beryllium and to advise OSHA of th e r e s u lts of th a t re -e v a lu a tio n . A fte r a thorough review and ev alu a tio n of th e most p e rtin e n t s tu d ie s considered in t&e 1972 document and papers published during the th re e years sin ce th a t document, NIOSH on December 10, 1975, tra n sm itte d i t s recommendations th a t beryllium posed a carcinog enic r is k to man and th a t occu p atio n al exposures, th e re fo re , should be reduced to a minimum^.
Since 1975 a d d itio n a l d ata have been generated which fu rth e r document the c a rc in o g e n ic ity of beryllium amoung humans. As a r e s u lt of th is c o lle c tiv e evidence, NIOSH now recommends th a t o ccu p atio n al expoure to bery lliu m be c o n tro lle d so th a t no w orker w ill be exposed in excess of 0.5 ug Be/m-3.
We b e liev e th a t a review of th e adverse n o n -n eo p lastic h e a lth e ffe c ts of beryllium have been s u f f ic ie n tly presen ted by OSHA so th a t r e p e titio n a t th is p o in t is unnecessary. We w ill address issu e s in th is testim ony which we b eliev e to be im portant fo r c o n sid e ra tio n by OSHA fo r the permanent stan d ard on beryllium . In the subsequent p o rtio n of th is testim ony, NIOSH w ill address issu e s fo r th e OSHA. permanent stan d ard on b ery lliu m . OSHA has n o t recommended a s p e c ific method of measurement fo r a sse ssin g com pliance w ith p e rm issib le u n its of airb o rn e co n cen tratio n s or employee exposure to b ery lliu m . A s lig h t m o d ificatio n in the sam pling and a n a ly tic a l method recommended in th e NIOSH c r i t e r i a document is in d ic a te d . NIOSH recommends th a t th e method of m easurenent of employee exposure be c o lle c tio n of p erso n al samples on c e llu lo se e s te r membrane f i l t e r s follow ed by fla m e le ss atom ic ab so rp tio n determ in ation of th e t o t a l b ery lliu m in th e sam ple. This method has been evaluated by NIOSH over the range of 2.68-11.84 ug Be/m3 u sin g a 4 0 -lite r a ir sam ple. The p re c isio n and accuracy o f th e method were determ ined to be w ith in +25% of th e "tru e " value a t th e 95% confidence l e v e l^. The d ata indicate^ th a t th is method would be s a tis f a c to r y fo r th e measurement o f a ir co n cen tratio n s of 0.5 ug Be/m3 , p ro v id in g th a t a 220 l i t e r (130 m inutes a t 1. In a NIOSH s u r v e y 2 7 1 p erso n al gross a i r samples of 3 9 w orkers a t a beryllium production p la n t showed average b ery lliu m co n c en tratio n s g re a te r than 2 ug Be/m3 fo r 2 8 of th e w orkers. In a second p la n t th a t produces b eryllium m etal and fa b ric a te s i t , p erso n al gro ss a ir samples o f 1 7 w orkers were t a k e n 2 7 , of th ese 1 7 , a l l but one showed a b ery lliu m c o n c en tratio n g re a te r than 2 . 0 ug/m3 . In a th ir d p la n t which produces b ery lliu m copper, th e b ery lliu m co n c en tratio n s by th e gross p erso n al sample method averaged g re a te r than 2 . 0 ug/m3 fo r fiv e of th e 1 2 w o r k e r s^, a more re c e n t study28 of one of th e above b ery lliu m produ ction f a c i l i t i e s showed th a t th e average b ery lliu m c o n c en tratio n in four of fiv e areas ev alu ated exceeded 2 ug/m3 w ith one a re a averaging 1 3 ug/m3 .
These