A cross-sectional study of pulmonary function in carbon black workers in the United States.

Since a proportion of airborne carbon black particles is of respirable size, the possibility that it may affect pulmonary function was investigated in 913 employees of 6 carbon black producers in the United States. Exposure was estimated by combining the mean total dust exposures of each job category with the length of time workers had spent in each job, giving a measurement expressed in mg/m3.months. Pulmonary function was measured by spirometry. The major variables affecting pulmonary function were age and cigarette smoking. When the effects of age and smoking were controlled in an age-specific, two-way analysis of variance, no consistent effects of total dust exposure were detectable in these workers. This study provided no evidence that exposure to total dust under the conditions pertaining in the contemporary carbon black industry had detrimental effects on the pulmonary function of men employed in the production and handling of this product.