Monitoraggio ambientale e biologico dell'esposizione a IPA nei lavoratori della cokeria di Taranto e confronta con due gruppi della popolazione generale pugliese

The exposure to PAHs was assessed by personal air sampling and urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) in 100 coke-oven workers (CW) of the Taranto plant and in subjects from the general population living close (NC, 18) and far away (FC, 15) from the plant. Median airborne benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and 1-OHP levels were 152,1.5, and 3.6 ng/m³ and 2.0,0.5 and 0.6 μg/g creatinine in CW, NC, and FC, respectively. BaP exposure exceeded the German acceptable (70 ng/m³) and tolerable (700 ng/m³) limit risk based values in 82 and 11% of CW and the European target value for ambient air (1 ng/m ³) in about 65% of NC and FC. 1-OHP levels exceed the proposed biological limit value for the coke-oven industry (4.4 μg/g crt) in 21% of CW and the Italian reference value (0.3 μg/g crt) in about 90% of NC and FC. The exposure resulted lower than in the past, but this study highlights that PAHs exposure from the coke plant still poses a health risk for workers and the general population.