The beryllium occupational exposure limit: historical origin and current inadequacy. Occupational and Environmental Medicine 17033496

摘要

This report considers the historical origin of the current beryllium occupational exposure limit (OEL) and the evidence that led most authorities to conclude that it was adequately protective against clinically evident chronic beryllium disease (CBD). Nearly 40 years later, during the late 1980s, it was shown that in addition to CBD, beryllium can cause asymptomatic sensitization and asymptomatic ("subclinical") lung disease. It is now known that beryllium sensitization can progress to beryllium disease. Moreover, beryllium sensitization has been found in workers employed at facilities where exposures infrequently, if ever, exceeded the OEL. Historic beryllium exposure limits, which in their time seemed adequate to protect against clinically evident CBD, no longer seem sufficient.