Dermal absorption of aromatic amines in workers with different skin lesions: a report on 4 cases

The exposure to aromatic amines (AA) continues to be a serious problem. Bladder cancer caused by exposure to AA is a common occupational cancer. The greatest problem from the point of view of occupational hygiene is, in spite of the standard technical protection measures, that AA are well absorbed through the skin.AA, respectively the intermediates of AA, are not substitutable in various industries until now. Ortho-toluidine (o-toluidine) is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as probably carcinogenic to humans [1]. In Germany this compound is considered to be carcinogenic for man [2].In automobile industry o-toluidine is contained in di-ortho-tolylguanidine used as accelerator for the vulcanisation of rubber products. In the present case report we evaluate the dermal absorption of o-toluidine in workers who performed vulcanisation of rubber articles.In a components supplier plant for the automobile industry we examined all workers (n = 4, male, response rate: 100%) involved in vulcanising hydraulic rubber articles. During this process the workers were exposed by inhalation and/or dermal contact to o-toluidine released from vulcanisation accelerators. We asked the workers to report on general workplace conditions, private and occupational risk factors, skin complaints, history of skin diseases and the use of personal protective equipment (breathing protection masks, gloves, skin barrier and skin care creams) by means of a standardized, self-administered questionnaire.A dermatologically trained physician screened the skin of the workers for lesions in accordance with a recently published study [3]. Lesions considered included erythema, scaling and other pathological findings such as fissures, vesicles or callosities, categorized also according to anatomical site. The classification of erythema and skin scaling was performed immediately after clinical examination. Hence, the observer was blind to type and intensity of exposure when eva