29 September 2009

New way to treat toxic chemical exposure

Beryllium is an exotic rare-earth metal that sees use as a hardener in high-performance alloys and ceramics. It can also cause berylliosis—a chronic, incurable, and sometimes fatal illness.

But there is a new reference material out now that should dramatically improve methods used to monitor workers’ exposure and aid in contamination control as well as toxicological research, said researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

The use of beryllium in manufacturing dates back to the advent of the atomic age. One of the scientists involved with the famous Chicago experiment known as Chicago Pile-1 to create the first artificial self-sustaining nuclear reaction in 1942 died of berylliosis in 1988. Aside from the nuclear industry, the unique properties of beryllium make it valuable in manufacturing aircraft and supercolliders.

Beryllium dust can cause a condition characterized by chronic skin and/or respiratory inflammation resembling pneumonia in susceptible individuals and can increase the risk of lung cancers with long periods of exposure. Treating the particles as a threat, the body’s immune system floods the affected area with white blood cells. The cells surround the beryllium particles and harden to form inflamed tissue nodules called granulomas. These granulomas can lodge under the skin or in lung tissue where they cause difficulty breathing and a host of other symptoms including fatigue, weight loss, and muscle pain. The condition, although treatable, is incurable.

The new Standard Reference Material, Beryllium Oxide Powder (SRM 1877), consists of high-fired crystalline beryllium oxide thoroughly characterized physically and chemically. The particles that make up the powder have an average diameter of about 200 nanometers, and researchers separated them into aggregated clusters that will pass through a 20 mesh screen. NIST scientists Greg Turk and Mike Winchester used a high performance inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry technique to certify the mass fraction (the ratio of pure beryllium in the beryllium oxide) in the compound.

Winchester said the previous analytical tests for exposure monitoring relied on an easily dissolved form of beryllium that did not really represent what the workers would be working with in the field. The new SRM mimics the form of beryllium workers would be working with much more closely and should facilitate much more representative and informative toxicological studies, more sensitive monitoring, and more effective clean up of contaminated areas.

For related information, go to www.isa.org/safety.