[MCOH-EH] Allergen testing

[Winters, Tom (BIDMC - Occupational Health)]

We have been testing in the Boston area for several years academic research institutions and at pharma companies.
 This is from Mike Amster, a CIH consutant to OEHN, my company. He has a slide deck I can send if needed by anyone.


I have attached a presentation that I made to the AIHA in 2020.  Also, some comments in response to the specific questions being asked.  As you can well imagine, the “complete” answer can really be quite involved and lengthy.



Q 1: I work at a large academic medical center that has several animal research labs. We were recently asked to do allergen air testing/monitoring and wanted to see if anyone here has experience with this. If so, which allergens do you test and what concentrations do you use. Thank you.



  1.  I have taken 100s of samples in industry and academia.  I worked with you and Lee to develop and implement the Pharma LAA Control Program.   I believe that you have also recommended me to support the BU, Dana Farber, and Harvard Programs.
  2.  We have sampled allergens for the animals that were present.  These have typically included mouse, rats, and guinea pigs.  Others may be involved but there already needs to have been an analysis method developed.



Q2: Our safety colleagues recently looked into this and did a fairly deep dive. My understanding is that air sampling for animal allergens is really not yet ready for practice, but is more of a research tool at this point. Special equipment is required and there are no standards or norms, so it would be a little like doing air quality testing for mold spores without having an outdoor control or comparison test. You can do particulate sampling as a proxy of sorts, which is more standard and I think there are some reference values for dust levels.



  1.  This was recognized as an issue in the UK in 1982 and the US in 1998.
  2.  The sampling for LAA is a routine process.  The sampling process and associated analysis is fairly simple.  The key is to observe the process to see possible conditions  that could be points resulting in employee exposure.  We use standard IH equipment with lab recommended filters.  When I helped Barbara Smith, she got the same response from her EH&S folks.  They were unaware of the ability to sample LAA directly.
  3.  Not at all like mold.  LAA sampling would best be done in affected and unaffected areas all within the facility.
  4.  The acceptable LAA exposure level can still be debated.  See the Gordon quote in the attached presentation.  The 5 ng/m3 has been considered as a ceiling limit.  They are also sensitizers.  Absent an agreed upon limit, the institutions should strive to at least reduce exposure levels to as low as reasonably achievable. (ALARA).


  If AAALAC is starting to request this, I'd be concerned about the potential impact of that for other institutions.



  1.  As an FYI, I was involved in an AAALAC visit where they asked for LAA data in a tech office area, but not in the vivarium itself.
  2.

Tom Winters
OEHN


________________________________
From: MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh-bounces at mylist.net> on behalf of Jakub Furmaga via MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh at mylist.net>
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2023 3:30 PM
To: mcoh-eh at mylist.net <mcoh-eh at mylist.net>
Cc: Jakub Furmaga <jfurmaga at me.com>
Subject: [MCOH-EH] Allergen testing


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I work at a large academic medical center that has several animal research labs. We were recently asked to do allergen air testing/monitoring, and wanted to see if anyone here has experience with this. If so, which allergens do you test and what concentrations do you use. Thank you.

Jakub

Jakub Furmaga, MD
Faculty in Medical Toxicology
Medical Director of Occupational Health
UT Southwestern


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