Arsenic exposure assessment and bio-monitoring for workers in electro-optics and semiconductor industries

Background and objectives: the arsenic exposure has adverse health effect to the workers; the objective of the study is to evaluate the personal exposure of arsenic. Methods: The study subjects sampled randomly including exposure group 74 and control group 59 in same work sites of electro-optics and semiconductor industries. Bio-monitoring the total arsenic concentrations (tAs) in blood, subjective syndromes, blood biochemistry indices were conducted. Results: the two semiconductor plants air arsenic exposure area were measured the average of 0.40 ~ 10.23 ìg/m3,three electric-optics plants arsenic exposure area were measured the average of 0.14 ~ 52.97 ìg/m3. The results indicated that abnormal % of SGPT and SGOT were higher in exposure subjects than those in control subjects. the tAs in blood were 10.96±3.73 ìg/L in exposure group and 11.09±2.58 ìg/L in control group (p=0.88). The tAs in semiconductor industry subjects (11.93±2.32 ìg/L) were significantly higher than those in electro-optics industry subjects (10.41±3.64 ìg/L) (p<0.01). The tAs were significantly correlated with the consumption of seafood. The 8-OHdG level in semiconductor industry subjects were higher than those in electro-optics industry subjects .(p=0.096). Conclusion: the tAs in the blood compared with the past results(1991) can be found in the tAs in the blood of the semiconductor industry works is still higher than those of the optoelectronics industry, the methylation in both p16 & p53 gene and urinary 8-OHdG level are higher in exposure group than that in control group. Key Words: electro-optics, semiconductor, arsenic exposure, biological monitoring