T De Smedt1, K De Cremer2, C Vleminckx3, S Fierens4, B Mertens5, I Van Overmeire6, M Bader7, P De Paepe8, T Göen9, B Nemery10, T Schettgen11, C Stove12, H Van Oyen13, J Van Loco14, A Van Nieuwenhuyse15. 1. Scientific Institute of Public Health, Department Public Health and Surveillance, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: tom.desmedt@wiv-isp.be. 2. Scientific Institute of Public Health, Department Food, Medicines and Consumer Products, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: koen.decremer@wiv-isp.be. 3. Scientific Institute of Public Health, Department Public Health and Surveillance, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: christiane.vleminckx@wiv-isp.be. 4. Scientific Institute of Public Health, Department Public Health and Surveillance, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: sebastien.fierens@wiv-isp.be. 5. Scientific Institute of Public Health, Department Public Health and Surveillance, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: birgit.mertens@wiv-isp.be. 6. Scientific Institute of Public Health, Department Food, Medicines and Consumer Products, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: ilse.vanovermeire@wiv-isp.be. 7. BASF SE, Occupational Medicine & Health Protection, Ludwigshafen, Germany. Electronic address: michael.bader@basf.com. 8. Ghent University Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: peter.depaepe@ugent.be. 9. University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute and Outpatient Clinic of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Erlangen, Germany. Electronic address: thomas.goeen@ipasum.med.uni-erlangen.de. 10. Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Centre for Environment and Health, Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: ben.nemery@med.kuleuven.be. 11. RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Occupational and Social Medicine, Medical Faculty, Aachen, Germany. Electronic address: tschettgen@ukaachen.de. 12. Ghent University, Laboratory of Toxicology, Department of Bioanalysis, Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: christophe.stove@ugent.be. 13. Scientific Institute of Public Health, Department Public Health and Surveillance, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: herman.vanoyen@wiv-isp.be. 14. Scientific Institute of Public Health, Department Food, Medicines and Consumer Products, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: joris.vanloco@wiv-isp.be. 15. Scientific Institute of Public Health, Department Public Health and Surveillance, Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: an.vannieuwenhuyse@wiv-isp.be.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: On Saturday May 4, 2013, a train transporting chemicals derailed in the village of Wetteren (Belgium) and caused a leak of acrylonitrile (ACN). OBJECTIVES: To assess the human exposure to acrylonitrile in the local population with the highest suspected exposure. METHODS: Between May 18-25, 242 residents participated in the study. N-2-cyanoethylvaline (CEV), a biomarker that is highly specific for ACN exposure, was measured in the blood. To account for potential influence by smoking, cotinine was determined in the urine. Participants also filled in a short questionnaire. RESULTS: In the evacuated zone, 37.3% of the non-smokers and 40.0% of the smokers had CEV concentrations above the reference values of 10 and 200 pmol/g globin, respectively, at the time of the train accident. Spatial mapping of the CEV concentrations depending on the residential address showed a distribution pattern following the sewage system. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The train derailment resulted in a highly atypical sequence-of-events. In addition to exposure in the direct vicinity of the site of the train derailment, exposure also occurred via the sewage system, into which acrylonitrile had entered shortly after the accident.
BACKGROUND: On Saturday May 4, 2013, a train transporting chemicals derailed in the village of Wetteren (Belgium) and caused a leak of acrylonitrile (ACN). OBJECTIVES: To assess the human exposure to acrylonitrile in the local population with the highest suspected exposure. METHODS: Between May 18-25, 242 residents participated in the study. N-2-cyanoethylvaline (CEV), a biomarker that is highly specific for ACN exposure, was measured in the blood. To account for potential influence by smoking, cotinine was determined in the urine. Participants also filled in a short questionnaire. RESULTS: In the evacuated zone, 37.3% of the non-smokers and 40.0% of the smokers had CEV concentrations above the reference values of 10 and 200 pmol/g globin, respectively, at the time of the train accident. Spatial mapping of the CEV concentrations depending on the residential address showed a distribution pattern following the sewage system. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The train derailment resulted in a highly atypical sequence-of-events. In addition to exposure in the direct vicinity of the site of the train derailment, exposure also occurred via the sewage system, into which acrylonitrile had entered shortly after the accident.