Graphical Summary. Credit score: Journal of Hazardous Supplies (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.137367
In Sweden, round 18,000 employees are uncovered to hexavalent chromium of their office. Hexavalent chromium is a robust carcinogen that’s launched, for instance, throughout welding of chrome steel or the manufacture of paints and rustproofing.
Thirty years in the past, the restrict for hexavalent chromium in Sweden was set at 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air. It’s a technically calculated worth that was decided primarily based on what trade was thought of to have the ability to deal with on the time, relatively than medical research inspecting the extent at which individuals begin growing most cancers.
That stage is definitely 5 hundred occasions increased than what we usually settle for for carcinogens open air, so a discount of the restrict is important, says Karin Broberg, professor of occupational and environmental medication at Lund College.
Researchers from Lund College collected breath, blood and urine samples from employees who had been uncovered to the substance. The examine, printed within the Journal of Hazardous Supplies, confirmed that many employees are uncovered to carcinogens unnecessarily and that the restrict must be lowered. The present examine included 89 individuals who had been uncovered to hexavalent chromium at work, and a management group of 47 individuals. The outcomes present that employees expertise vital modifications of their cells lengthy earlier than illness develops, regardless that publicity is effectively beneath the Swedish restrict.
On this examine, greater than 90% of employees had been uncovered to ranges beneath the present restrict and the bulk (80%) had been uncovered at ranges decrease than the brand new proposed restrict of 1 microgram per cubic meter of air. However, the employees have delicate however vital modifications of their cells’ microRNAs which are linked to lung most cancers improvement.
Our bodily fluids include small molecules, often called microRNAs, which regulate gene exercise and are strongly linked to most cancers improvement. They’re additionally vital for signaling between tissues and are significantly attention-grabbing to review as biomarkers of illness development. These early organic modifications are warning indicators, which may also help us acknowledge how severe ailments, corresponding to lung most cancers, develop.
By figuring out these molecular indicators and understanding how they will predict dangers, well being surveillance could be strengthened for uncovered employees and stricter security laws put in place. Nonetheless, extra research are wanted to verify whether or not these modifications can be utilized to foretell the chance of most cancers and decide whether or not the modifications could also be reversible.
“The study is particularly relevant given the Swedish Work Environment Authority’s recent proposal to lower the limit for exposure to hexavalent chromium from 5 to 1 microgram per cubic meter of air. The current limit in Sweden is higher than in several other countries, including Denmark, which lowered its limit a few years ago following an alarming report. Denmark has now lowered its limit again to 0.25 micrograms, due in no small part to learning of our study last year. It is crucial that the Swedish authorities continue to act by further reducing the limit,” concludes Broberg.
Extra info:
Zheshun Jiang et al, Integrative analyses of circulating microRNA expression profile in hexavalent chromium uncovered employees—A cross-sectional examine inside the SafeChrom undertaking, Journal of Hazardous Supplies (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.137367
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Lund College
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Mobile modifications happen even beneath the hexavalent chromium restrict: Swedish examine suggests updating carcinogen steering (2025, April 2)
retrieved 2 April 2025
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