Occupational exposure and DNA strand breakage of workers in bottom ash recovery and fly ash treatment plants

Various environmental hazards and metals are liberated either into bottom ash or carried away with gases and subsequently trapped in fly ash. Many studies have reported an increase of DNA damage is related to hazardous exposure of municipal waste incinerators. By detecting DNA damage, we compared the DNA migration imposed in workers potentially exposed to hazardous substances, including PCDD/Fs, metals, and silica particles, at a bottom ash recovery plant and fly ash treatment plants in Taiwan. Higher tail moment (TMOM) was found in workers at fly ash treatment plants (7.55) than in the workers in bottom ash plants (2.64), as well as those in blue collar was higher than in white collar workers (5.72 vs. 3.95). Meanwhile, the significantly higher DNA damage was also shown in workers with high integrated exposure score than those with low. The air samplings for particle mass, Cr, and Al concentrations also showed the higher levels in fly ash treatment plants than in the workers in bottom ash plants. Meanwhile, the air samplings inside the two plants suggested that the particle size might be important to affect the workers inhaling the metal into the human body and finally caused to their DNA damage. The data concluded that an elevated DNA damage may be expected in workers at fly ash treatment plants than those at bottom ash plants; however, the occupational hazards in both types of plants, especially at different particle size interval, need more thorough assessment in future studies.