CHROMIUM, COPPER, MANGANESE, ZINC, SELENIUM AND IRON LEVELS AND LEUCOCYTES DIFFERENTIAL COUNTS IN NIGERIAN CEMENT FACTORY WORKERS WORKING IN DIFFERENT SECTIONS.

 OGUNBILEJE J.O1, FOLARIN B.O2, RAHAMON S.K1, NWOBI N.L1, OYELAKIN T.A 3 and AKINOSUN O.M 11Chemical pathology and Immunology department ,University of Ibadan2+3 Haematology and Orthorpaedic department , Federal medical centre, AbeokutaA presentation @ the 2nd annual Scientific conference in Health researches in Nigeria, Lagos. 14th -16th , December,2009

INTRODUCTION

It has recently been reported that workers in cement factory are exposed to some trace metals in excess of the general population and these have been implicated in diseases incidence in cement factory workers (ATSDR, 2000, Isikli et al, 2005, Abimbola et al, 2006 Gbadebo and Bankole, 2007).

INTRODUCTION CONTINUE Of all the trace elements only ten are

considered to be essential for the proper functioning of the human body (Xiu, 1999). A dietary deficiency of any of these elements poses health problems, while an excess of any of these elements may lead to toxicity and associated health problem, thus, the need to control the rate of exposure to trace metals.

The major pollution problem in cement factory is cement dust emission into the environment from various points of the production process such as the crusher, rotary kiln, cranes, mills, storage silos and packaging sections (ILO, 1999).

AIM

To determine the serum levels of Chromium, Copper, Manganese, Zinc, Selenium and Iron and blood differential leucocyte differential count ( eosinophil, neutrophil, lymphocyte and basophils of cement factory workers working in different sections of cement factory.

Crushed material is been transfered by conveyor.

Crushing machine

Cement mill turbine

Parking operator loading cement into the bag.

MATERIALS AND METHODSForty-five (45) males for the study were selected among

the workers of LAFARGE cement factory situated in Ogun State, Nigeria. Personnel working at the crusher, milling, and packing sections were selected after filling informed consent form. They were grouped according there sections; group 1(crusher section (13)), group 2 (milling section (19)) and group 3 (packing section (13)) with a mean years of exposure of 11.6years, 5.3years and 4.8years respectively.

The blood and sera of the subjects were collected for the analysis of the leucocytes differential and trace metals levels respectively. Smokers and chronically ill patients are exempted from the study.

Atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Buck Scientific, Germany) and standard manual method were used for determination of trace metals and leucocyte differential count respectively.

F-test was used to compare the groups mean±SD using SPSS version 15.0. p<0.05 value was considered significant.

Serum levels of some trace metals of cement factory workers working in different sections of the factory.

Trace metals

Earth movement and crushing section

Milling section

Parking section

F-ratio P- value

Chromium(ug/L) 71.31 77.31 73.31 5.50 P<0.05

Copper(ug/dl)

78.46 74.84 79.92 5.16 P<0.05

Manganese 69.85 67.26 65.84 1.91 p>0.05

Iron(ug/dl) 72.54 78.63 80.69 8.95 P<0.05

Selenium(ug/L) 70.54 76.63 78.54 8.89 P<0.05

Zinc(ug/L) 130.85 130.89 130.54 0.007 p>0.05

Leucocytes differential counts of cement factory workers working in different section of the factory.

Leucocytes

differentials

Earth movement

and crushing section

Milling section Packing section F-value p-value

Neutrophils (%) 38.54 34.95 39.62 0.759 p>0.05

Lymphocytes (%) 56.85 56.74 59.00 0.126 p>0.05

Monocytes (%) 3.08 4.10 1.39 10.196 P<0.05

Eosinophils (%) 1.08 1.53 0.00 4.474 P<0.05

Basophils (%) 0.00 0.53 0.00 0.674 p>0.05

DISCUSSION Cement making is inevitably a dusty operation as it

is much concerned with hot dry powder. Various operations where stone or raw materials are crouched in the cement factory produce fugitive dust emissions(Jude et al,2002).

The high metal concentration and their attendant health problem were due to the raw materials used by the cement factory and from active industrial discharge from this same factory (Abimbola et al, 2007).

These raw materials are been added at the milling level of production.

These tend to have adverse effects on various organs and the immune system (Abimbola et al, 2007 and Ogunbileje et al, 2009).

CONCLUSION

Workers in Parking and milling sections of the factory should be specifically placed on routing monitoring of exposure rate.

Cr(III) is an essential mineral in human nutrition, but Cr(VI) which cement workers are exposed to is toxic .The target organ of inhaled chromium is the lung but the kidney, liver, skin and immune system may also be affected (ASTDR, Ogunbileje et al,2009), thus, workers in the milling section are more likely to come down with the toxic effects of trace metals.

Hope we are all awake to savage the situation?

REFERENCES

Abimbola A.F , Olusegun O., Philips K. , Olatunji A.S.(2007),The SagamuCement factory ,SW Nigeria :Is the dust generated a potential health hazard?Evironmental Geochemistry and Health 2007; 2:163-167.

Agency for toxic substances and Disease Registry(ATSDR)(2000).Chromium toxicity and physiologic effects.Agency for toxic substances and Disease case studies in Enviromental medicine (CSEM)Web document.

Gbadebo A.M, Bankole O.M (2007):Analysis of potentially toxic metals in airborne cement dust around Sagamu ,Southwestern Nigeria .Journal of Applied Sciences 2007;7(1):35-40.

Jude A.L.C. , Salikala K ., kumar R.A. , Sudha S. , Rachel J.(2002). Haematological and cytogenetic studies in workers occupationally exposed to cement dust .int.j.Genet,2,(2):95-99.

International Labour Organisation (ILO), 1999.Encyclopedia of occupational health and safety .Swithzerland International Labour Organisation ,4;3:44-46.

Ogunbileje J.O, Akinosun O.M, Arinola O.A, Akinduti P.A (2009): Immunoglobulin Classes (IgG , IgA, IgM and IgE) and Liver Function Tests in Nigerian Cement Factory Workers . (5TH Biennial Scientific Conference of Association of Clinical Chemists of Nigeria and Inauguration of African Federation of Clinical Chemistry, 25-28 oct.2009 )

Xiu, Y. M. (1996). Trace elements in health and diseases.Biomedical and Environmental Sciences. Department of Trace Element Nutrition. Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, China: Beijing, 130–136.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING.