Exposure profiles of workers from indium tin oxide target manufacturing and recycling factories in Taiwan

Yuan-Ting Hsu; Ting-Yao Su; Chang-Yuh Chen; Hui-Yi Liao; Yu-Chieh Kuo; Wei-Te Wu; Lih-Ann Li; Ching-Huang Lai; Saou-Hsing Liou

doi:10.1016/j.ijheh.2021.113708

Exposure profiles of workers from indium tin oxide target manufacturing and recycling factories in Taiwan

Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2021 Apr:233:113708. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2021.113708. Epub 2021 Feb 12.

Authors

Yuan-Ting Hsu¹, Ting-Yao Su², Chang-Yuh Chen³, Hui-Yi Liao⁴, Yu-Chieh Kuo⁴, Wei-Te Wu⁴, Lih-Ann Li⁴, Ching-Huang Lai⁵, Saou-Hsing Liou⁶

Affiliations

¹ Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, No. 161, Sec. 6, Minquan E. Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei City, 114, Taiwan; National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli County, Taiwan, No. 35, Keyan Rd., Zhunan Township, Miaoli County, 350, Taiwan.
² Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, No. 161, Sec. 6, Minquan E. Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei City, 114, Taiwan; Division of Occupational Hazards Assessment, Institute of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health, Ministry of Labor, New Taipei, Taiwan, No. 99, Ln. 407, Hengke Rd., Xizhi Dist., New Taipei City, 221, Taiwan.
³ Division of Occupational Hazards Assessment, Institute of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health, Ministry of Labor, New Taipei, Taiwan, No. 99, Ln. 407, Hengke Rd., Xizhi Dist., New Taipei City, 221, Taiwan.
⁴ National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli County, Taiwan, No. 35, Keyan Rd., Zhunan Township, Miaoli County, 350, Taiwan.
⁵ Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, No. 161, Sec. 6, Minquan E. Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei City, 114, Taiwan; School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, No. 161, Sec. 6, Minquan E. Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei City, 114, Taiwan. Electronic address: lgh@mail.ndmctsgh.edu.tw.
⁶ National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli County, Taiwan, No. 35, Keyan Rd., Zhunan Township, Miaoli County, 350, Taiwan; Division of Occupational Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, No. 325, Sec. 2, Chenggong Rd., Neihu Dist., Taipei City, 114, Taiwan.

PMID: 33588194
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2021.113708

Abstract

Indium tin oxide exposure poses a potential health risk, but the exposure assessment in occupational setting remains incomplete and continues to be a significant challenge. To this end, we investigated the association of work type, airborne indium concentration, respirable fraction of total indium, and cumulative indium exposure index (CEI) with the levels of plasma indium (P-In) and urinary indium (U-In) among 302 indium tin oxide target manufacturing and recycling workers in Taiwan. We observed that recycling-crushing produced the highest concentrations of total indium (area: 2084.8 μg/m³; personal: 3494.5 μg/m³) and respirable indium (area: 533.4 μg/m³; personal: 742.0 μg/m³). Powdering produced the highest respirable fraction of total indium (area: 58.6%; personal: 81.5%), where the workers had the highest levels of P-In (geometric mean: 2.0 μg/L) and U-In (1.0 μg/g creatinine). After adjusting for the confounder, the CEIs of powdering (β_PR = 0.78; β_PR = 0.44), bonding (β_PT = 0.61; β_PT = 0.37), and processing workers (β_PT = 0.43; β_PT = 0.28) showed significant associations with P-In and U-In, validating its utility in monitoring the exposure. Also, the respirable fraction of total indium significantly contributed to the increased levels of P-In and U-In among workers. The varying levels of relationship noted between indium exposure and the levels of P-In and U-In among workers with different work types suggested that setting the exposure limits among different work types is warranted.

Keywords: Cumulative exposure; Exposure assessment; Indium tin oxide; Plasma indium; Urinary indium.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Indium / analysis
Occupational Exposure* / analysis
Taiwan
Tin Compounds / analysis

Substances

Tin Compounds
Indium
indium tin oxide