These studies are being conducted to evaluate potential human exposure for manufacturing compounds that have high production, increasing use and/or structural similarity to other known toxicants. There is limited environmental and occupational exposure data available in the scientific literature to assess the acute exposure/ response relationship, and potential chronic long-term adverse effects of PCBTF exposure. Location of industrial sampling sites to evaluate PCBTF exposure is ongoing. New sampling campaigns for Oxsol (PCBTF) will begin in September 2012. One sampling campaign will collect additional samples at a previously sampled paint manufacturer. In this case, in addition to sampling the third shift, which was not sampled on the previous occasion, a more thorough evaluation will be carried out into the determinants of exposure. This will be used to support evaluation of models that could be used to predict exposures in other situations. A second sampling campaign will involve the application of a product formulation to truck body parts by hand wiping. The product is a paint adhesion promoter and contains 88% Oxsol solvent. The company is piloting the use of this product, with the intention of implementing it on a larger scale. Since the application of this product will take place under general ventilation, it will represent a different exposure scenario to the helicopter manufacture, where 100% Oxsol was applied by hand wiping, but under an exhaust hood. Task-based sampling will be carried out during this pilot use, but not 8-hour sampling, since only one or two trucks per day will be treated. Should the pilot testing of the product be successful, it will be used on their standard production run of 4,000 trucks and then additional 8-hour sampling will be carried out. Thirdly, we have identified a local autobody paint refinishing shop as requested in the last project review. We have also requested and been provided with a list of over 4000 products containing more than 1% Oxsol manufactured by two of the three paint and coatings companies we sampled last year, and so that Oxsol-containing products can be quickly identified to allow for more accurate exposure assessment.
