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Asthmagenicity of coal mine roof-bolting resins: an assessment using inhalation provocation tests

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Ann Ward, Dr John Dennis, Dr Chris Stenton, Dr Stephen Bourke, Emeritus Professor David Hendrick

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Abstract

Inhalation provocation tests were used to assess whether the volatile products of an activated resin had caused occupational asthma in a non-random sample of six asthmatic coal miners. The resin system uses the polymerization of polyester and styrene under the influence of the cross-linking agent dibenzoyl peroxide to secure roof, wall and floor bolts in mine tunnels. The tests were conducted sequentially in a double-blind fashion over a 'dose' range which extended just beyond the maximum likely to have been experienced occupationally during a single day's work. The tests were monitored by symptoms, changes in the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and changes in airway responsiveness. All subjects completed the series of tests without any significant decrements in FEV1 or significant increases in airway responsiveness. We conclude that the use of this resin system is not likely to have been the cause of the asthma in the test subjects, nor in the larger group of miners of which they were a sample, but neither possibility is fully excluded and the participants may not have been adequately representative of other asthmatic coal miners.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Hendrick DJ; Ward A; Bourke SJ; Stenton SC; Dennis JH; Convery R; Ward R; Bromly CL

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Occupational Medicine

Year: 2001

Volume: 51

Issue: 2

Pages: 100-106

ISSN (print): 0962-7480

ISSN (electronic): 1471-8405

Publisher: Oxford University Press

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/occmed/51.2.100

DOI: 10.1093/occmed/51.2.100

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