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Assessment of Toxic Agents at the Workplace pp 161–173Cite as

Current Use of Ambient and Biological Monitoring: Reference Workplace Hazards. Organic Toxic Agents — Benzene I

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Summary

Benzene is a potent haematotoxin capable of causing aplastic anaemia and acute myeloblastic leukaemia. Surveillance of workers potentially exposed to benzene is focused on detecting evidence of bone marrow toxicity. A particularly thorough haematological evaluation should be conducted upon entrance to the workforce at risk. This should be followed by at least quarterly surveillance using the routine complete blood count as the major monitoring technique. Attention should also be placed on increases in the mean corpuscular volume and decreases in the lymphocyte count as possible early indicators of benzene toxicity. No single finding or constellation of findings is pathognomic of benzene haemato-toxicity and all findings must be carefully interpreted in terms of the individual or group at risk. Basic research into the mechanism of benzene haematotoxicity is a prerequisite to developing improved means of protecting potentially exposed workers.

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    B. D. Goldstein

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  1. B. D. Goldstein
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A. Berlin R. E. Yodaiken B. A. Henman

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© 1984 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg.

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Goldstein, B.D. (1984). Current Use of Ambient and Biological Monitoring: Reference Workplace Hazards. Organic Toxic Agents — Benzene I. In: Berlin, A., Yodaiken, R.E., Henman, B.A. (eds) Assessment of Toxic Agents at the Workplace. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6762-5_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6762-5_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-009-6764-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-6762-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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