• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.3-12
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• 1980

Certain heavy metals which may lead peoples to poisonous status are widely used in industry and their uses have been increasing along with rapid industrialization of this country. Such an increasement of metal uses aggravates the status of environmental pollution affecting foodstuffs which are the most important life supporting factor of animal and humanbeing. Concerning the safety measures to minimize food-borne transmission of such hazardous metals, surveillance is the backbone of them and probably more so with a potential problem such as intoxication. Theoretically, this surveillance should include the determination of levels of heavy metal toxicants in foods, the determination of food consumption patterns and typical total diet, and the estimation of total load of the metal contaminant from all sources of exposure including air, water, and occupational sources. In recent year, actually, such estimates on the total daily intake of some heavy metals from foods have been made in several developed countries and a wide variation of date by season, locality, and research method was recognized. Also in this country, this kind of research data is vitally needed to make up for the serious shortage or lack of references to estimate the total amount of heavy metal intake of the people. In this study, a modification model for estimation of the total daily intake of cadmium copper, nickel, zinc, and lead through foods was applied and concentrations of the above metals in crops cultivated in this country were measured with atomic absorption spectro photometer to get the following results. 1. Level of heavy metal concentration in crops Generally, the levels of such metals in essential crops such as rice, cucumber, radish. chinese cabbage, apple, pear, grape, and orange are similar or lower than those in Japan and other developed countries. By the way, a striking result on cadmium concentration was increasement of its concentration in rice from $0{\sim}0.035ppm$ in 1970 to 0.11ppm in this study. However, the value is still far below the. Japanese Permissible Lebel of 1.0ppm. 2. Estimation of total daily intake per capita from foods A new model for estimation was devised utilizing levels of metal concentration in foods, amount of food consumed, and other food factors. Based on the above method, the daily intake of cadmium was estimated to be $70.53{\mu}g/man/day$ in average which was as high as the Limit Value of ILO/WHO(up to $71.4{\mu}g/man/day$). Also, 3.89mg of Zinc, 1.65mg of cuppor, 0.32mg of lead were given as the total daily intake per capita by this research. 3. Efficacy of washing or skinning to decrease the amount of metals in crops After washing the crops sufficiently with commercial linear alkylate sulfonate, the concentration of heavy metals could be reduced to $50{\sim}80%$ showing decreasement rate of $20{\sim}50%$. Also, after skinning the fruits, decreasement rate of the heavy metal concentration shelved $0{\sim}50%$.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.324-333
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• 2006

This study was designed to investigate the effect of bone demineralization and tibia lead on blood lead in retired lead workers. Two hundred thirty five(126 females and 109 males) retired lead workers who worked in 4 different lead factories and 101 non-occupationally lead exposed subjects(51 females and 51 males) were recruited from March 2004 to October 2004. Bone mineral density(BMD) was measured at left calcaneous bone area by broadband ultrasound attenuation(BUA) method with QUS-2(Metra Biosystems Inc, USA). The BUA value transformed into T-score by WHO standard conversion criteria. Tibia bone lead was measured for skeletal bone lead with K-xray fluorescence(K-XRF) and blood lead was analyzed with flameless atomic spectrophotometer. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, serum calcium and iron were also analyzed. In addition, information for smoking and drinking status and basic personal data such as age, gender and lead exposure were also collected using questionnaire inquiry. Blood lead was correlated with tibia lead (r=0.664) and these two variables were negatively correlated with BMD in bivariate analysis. BMD showed significant main effect on the change of blood lead independent to tibia lead without any effect modification of age or gender; the one T-score unit decrease of mineral bone density made $0.43{\mu}g/dl$ increase of blood lead. On the other hand, tibia lead showed effect modification with gender on blood lead; the slope of tibia lead on blood lead in male was steeper than in female and crossed at around zero of tibia lead. In the multiple regression analysis of blood lead and tibia lead on BMD after adjustment of related covariates, only blood lead showed statistically significant effect on BMD. This study confirmed that BMD and blood lead were significantly associated. To verify the causal association of BMD on blood lead and vice versa, further longitudinal studies are needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.499-504
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• 1999

Objectives : To evaluate whether a relation between blood lead and zinc proto porphyrin(ZPP) was modified by gender in Korean lead workers. Methods : A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,304 male and 101 female subjects in 1997. The relation between blood lead and ZPP were evaluated with linear, exponential, and quadratic models. Then, the different effect of gender on the relation was examined by adding the interaction terms in the each model. Results : $Mean{\pm}SD$ of blood lead and ZPP level was different between male$(27.7{\pm}10{\mu}g/dl\;and\;51.3{\pm}23.4{\mu}g/dl)$ and female subjects$(22.5{\pm}9.2{\mu}g/dl\;and\;78.7{\pm}38.6{\mu}g/dl)$. After adjusting for possible confounders, the effect modification by gender was significant in linear$(\beta=1.119,\;p<0.001)$, exponential$(\beta=Exp(0.008),\;p<0.05)$, and quadratic model$(\beta=1.388,\;p<0.001)$. In separate analysis, a quadratic relation between blood lead and ZPP was shown in male lead workers$(\beta=0.036,\;p<0.001)$, but an exponential relation in female lead workers$(\beta=Exp(0.029), p<0.001)$. Conclusion : Our data showed that the increasing rate of ZPP in female were always higher than in male lead workers, suggesting that females were more susceptible to occupational lead exposure than males.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.141-146
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• 2005

Objectives: Particulate contaminants, such as total and respirable dusts, can harm the health of farm workers via several routes. The principal aims of this field study were to determine the concentrations and emissions of particulate contaminants: total and respirable dusts, in the different types of swine houses used in Korea, and allow objective comparison between Korea and the other countries in terms of swine housing types. Methods: The swine houses investigated in this research were selected with respect to three criteria: the manure removal system, ventilation mode and growth stage of pigs. Measurements of total and respirable dust concentrations and emissions in the swine houses were carried out on 5 housing types at 15 different farm sites per housing type. The swine houses investigated were randomly selected from farms situated within the central districts in Korea: province of Kyung-gi, Chung-buk and Chung-nam. Results: The total and respirable dust concentrations in the swine houses averaged $1.88\;and\;0.64mg/m^3$, ranging from $0.53\;to\;4.37mg/m^3$ and from $0.18\;to\;1.68mg/m^3$, respectively. The highest concentrations of total and respirable dusts were found in the swine houses with deep-litter bed systems: $2.94mg/m^3\;and\;1.14 mg/m^3$, while the lowest concentrations were found in the naturally ventilated buildings with slats: $0.83mg/m^3\;and\;0.24mg/m^3$, respectively (p<0.05). All the swine houses investigated did not exceed the threshold limit values (TLVs) for total ($10mg/m^3$) and respirable ($2.5mg/m^3$) dusts. The mean emissions of total and respirable dusts, per pig (75 kg in terms of live weight) and area ($m^2$), from the swine houses were 97.33 and 9.55 mg/h/pig and $37.14\;and\;12.83mg/h/m^2$, respectively. The swine houses with deep-litter bed systems showed the highest emissions of total and respirable dusts (p<0.05). However, the emissions of total and respirable dusts from the other swine houses were not significantly different (p>0.05). Conclusion: The concentrations and emissions of total and respirable dusts were relatively higher in the swine houses managed with deep-litter bed systems and ventilated naturally of the different swine housing types tested. In further research, more farms than the number used in this research should be investigated, which will present objective and accurate data on the concentrations and emissions of total and respirable dusts in Korean swine houses. In addition, personal sampling should be performed to objectively assess the exposure level of farm workers to particulate contaminants.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.267-276
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• 2016

Objectives: This study, aims to examine the distribution characteristics of asbestos-containing building materials; risk assessment and area of distribution of asbestos-containing building materials depending on year of construction; building materials; types of building materials; and usage in public buildings in order to create fundamental data for safe management of public buildings. Methods: The asbestos investigation was conducted by an asbestos research institution from March to May 2014, targeting 41 public buildings which were subject to asbestos investigation in South Chungcheong-do Province. With respect to 381 presumed asbestos-containing materials, an investigation was conducted into whether they contained asbestos, asbestos type, content, year of construction, and use in the building were examined, and a risk assessment was performed. Results: Asbestos-containing building materials were used in 35 buildings(85.4%). Among them, 31(88.6%) were public buildings. Asbestos was detected in 73% of 381 suspected asbestos-containing materials, which were mostly ceiling materials (85.2%). The older the buildings, the more they showed a tendency to have a significantly higher risk assessment score. The ratio of average area with asbestos-containing building materials to total floor area was 57.6%, 44.1%, and 17.8% for buildings built in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, respectively. This showed a tendency to be significantly higher with the age of the building. Conclusions: From the results above, it can be concluded that with the age of the buildings, the risk assessment score and the ratio of average area with asbestos-containing building materials to total floor area became significantly higher. Given the concern about the exposure to asbestos of residents and civil petitioners, safety management of older public buildings and measures for dismantling and removal of asbestos-containing building materials should therefore be urgently established.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.78-87
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• 2015

Recently, Police integrity has been issued on the media, which cause discredit of police organization. Although high level of morality and integrity are required compared to other occupational groups due to their authority to exert legal force to the citizens and a variety of policies have been enforced by the National Police Agency for the purpose of uplifting the integrity of the officers, in reality, corruption had not yet been eradicated. At this point in time, this study attempted to draw implications for uplifting integrity by utilizing domestic and foreign preceding studies and statistical data related to police corruption and uplifting integrity. The inspection system through whistle-blowing was pointed out as a problem in the institutional framework that hinders uplifting integrity of the police officers and the perception in which police officers are regarded as potential criminals was also pointed out as a problem. Also, vague standards of disciplinary action in examining an offense of a police officer and lack of care for those who were disciplined in the past which affects loyalty to the organization were presented as problems. Based on such suggested concerns, policies for uplifting integrity and restoring citizens' trust in the policies officers were proposed. The proposed agenda were warning the police officers by presenting clear and specific category of corruptive behaviors, expressing the necessity of devising a system that prevents the officers from committing serious crimes by discovering problematic officers earlier through introduction of Early Warning System(EWS) of US and Australian police in order to break away from exposure-oriented inspection system, and reinforcing the testing of integrity in the new employment process.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.199-207
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• 2010

In this study, breast milk levels of indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were estimated, and statistics drawn, for 22 Koreans in the general population, aged 26-38, who had resided in metropolitan areas for more than 5 years without occupational exposure to organochlorine pollutants. Concentrations of indicator PCBs were measured using the isotope dilution method with a high resolution gas chromatograph/high resolution mass detector, which provided accurate and precise data for investigation of trends, and international comparisons. The geometric mean of total indicator PCB levels was 22.3 ng/g lipid, which is significantly lower than the level in individuals from European countries. Overall, the geometric mean and 95th percentile of the most abundant congener PCB 153 were 8.04 ng/g lipid and 16.4 ng/g lipid, respectively. PCB congeners 138, 153 and 180 together accounted for about 75% of the indicator congeners analyzed. Breast milk total indicator PCB concentrations were significantly associated with age and parity, but not with body mass index (BMI), rate of body weight increase, or smoking habits. The geometric mean level of PCB 153 in breast milk from mothers with a pre-pregnant BMI < $21\;kg/m^2$ was significantly higher than in pre-pregnant women with a BMI of ${\geqslant}\;21\;kg/m^2$ (p<0.05). Women who ate more fish, meat, and milk products did not have significantly higher total indicator PCB levels than those who ate less of these products, but a significant difference in PCB 153 levels was demonstrated between the subjects consuming higher (11.45 ng/g lipid) and lower (6.79 ng/g lipid) amounts of fish (p<0.05), after adjusting for confounders. These results suggest that age, parity and fish intake are the important factors affecting the concentrations of indicator PCBs in these subjects.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.235-240
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• 2001

This study was performed to compare the lead levels of 20 quality control standard samples(KOSHA:18-2000) and 72 field samples in lead-acid battery manufacturing plant between ICP and portable-XRF methods. 1. While the proficiencies of 20 quality control standard samples by ICP were 100%, those of analytic result values by XRF were 75%. 2. The correlation coefficient(r) between the reference values for quality control (REF) and the analytic result values by ICP (ICP) was 1.0(p<0.05), and simple linear regression equation and the coefficient(R2) were REF = -0.0009 + 1.016 ICP and 0.9997, respectively. 3. The correlation coefficient(r) between the analytic result values of quality control standard samples by ICP (ICP) and by XRF (XRF) was 0.975(p<0.05), and simple linear regression equation and the coefficient(R2) were ICP = -0.0003 + 1.002 XRF and 0.950, respectively. 4. The correlation coefficient(r) between the analytic result values for lead samples of a lead-acid battery manufacturing plant by ICP (ICP) and by XRF (XRF) was 0.993(p<0.05), and simple linear regression equation and the coefficient(R2) were ICP = -2.058 + 0.996 XRF and 0.987, respectively. 5. While the frequency distributions of XRF /ICP(Ratio) for each ICP concentration levels in a lead-acid battery manufacturing plant revealed high proportion in ratio range of 0.876-1.125 than in ration range of 1.126-1.375. Also, ICP concentration level in ration range of 0.786-1.125 was increased with increase of frequency distribution of XRF/ICP. 6. The limit of detection of XRF on lead was determined to be $6.11{\mu}g$/filter The data presented in this study indicated that relationship for lead level of quality control samples and field samples in a lead -acid battery manufacturing plant by ICP and portable-XRF methods was proved. The practicing industrial hygienist can use portable-XRF to produce a rapid on-site determination of lead exposure that can immediately becommunicated to workers and help identify appropriate levels of personal protection.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.138-146
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• 2021

Objectives: This study aims to compare and evaluate the reduction efficiency of disinfectants used in the domestic meat processing industry to reduce bioaerosol exposure of meat industry workers and to use this as basic data for establishing work environment management measures. Methods: Thirteen disinfectants sold in South Korea were selected for evaluation and the bacterial reduction effect of the disinfectants was investigated. Bacterial suspension and surface disinfection tests were conducted to compare and analyze the antibacterial strength of the disinfectants. Pork carcasses, cutting boards, benches, and conveyor belts were selected for surface sterilization tests. Results: As a result of the bacterial suspension experiment test, all disinfectants had a bacterial reduction efficiency of more than 86%. Among them, the bacterial reduction efficiency of chlorine disinfectants was 99.93% on average. In the results of the pork carcass surface sterilization test, the rate of reduction of disinfectants made of quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) was the highest. Tests of plastic cutting boards showed that chlorine disinfectants had the best sterilization effect. Experiments on stainless steel benches showed the best bacterial reduction efficiency for chlorine dioxide and QACs disinfectants. In the conveyor belt made of urethane, QACs disinfectants showed excellent sterilization effects. Conclusions: The study evaluated the disinfection power of disinfectants against bacteria occurring in domestic meat processing plants. All disinfectants were found to be effective in bacterial suspension experiments, and chlorine disinfectants were particularly effective. In surface sterilization experiments, sterilizing agents with QACs as the main ingredient were excellent.