Health Risks from Respirable Dusts Produced during the Operation of Big Harvesters

Abstract

In modern agriculture the use of big machines may be the cause of considerable amounts of dust. We have investigated in particular the health risks from dusts generated during the operation of combine harvesters. These dusts are highly complex mixtures of inorganic and organic materials depending on the type of soil and the kind of crop (7). Four special situations could be included in our study: There were fields of loamy soil and fields of sandy soil. On both types of soil wheat was grown; furthermore there were fields of sandy soil with winter barley and with spring barley. Dust was collected by a sampler with a preseparation device (2) so that the respirable dust fraction was obtained separately. 15 mg aliquots of this fraction in 0,3 ml saline were administered to female rats (Wistar strain, weight: 180–200 g) by intratracheal injection. After three months the lungs of the animals were examined histologically and the degree of fibrosis was quantified by determination of the hydroxyproline content after hydrolysis in 6N hydrochloric acid at 105°C for 22 hrs (5). As hydroxyproline is a biochemical marker of collagen the amount of this scleroprotein could be calculated from the amount of the amino acid.