OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE TO SILICATE FIBRES AND PAHs DURING SUGAR-CANE HARVESTING

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Abstract
The literature has suggested that many commercially important plant species contain amorphous silica. This report provides a summary of that literature as well as the findings from a field survey in Florida of sugar-cane field workers where airborne concentrations of amorphous silica fibres were determined. In addition to the fibre analysis, concentrations of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and total airborne dust were also determined. It was confirmed that biogenic amorphous silica fibres exist in the mature sugar-cane leaf and that these fibres become airborne during the manual harvesting of the cane after the leaf is burned. Airborne amorphous silica fibres that were found were 3.5–65 μm long (mean=12 μm) with an average diameter of 0.6 μm. Air concentrations were calculated to be as high as 300000 fibres m −3 of air during cane cutting. Some PAH compounds were found to be present in the burnt leaf but the concentrations were below the limits of detection in the air. The health significance of these findings to sugar-cane workers as well as to other agricultural workers is discussed.