Incense sticks are widely used, especially in Asian countries, and often for religious purposes [1]. The reasons why incense stick are used because each religion believes to use it for connection with god in many holy ceremonies or it use for sending soul of the deceased. Thailand, in which incense sticks are used extensively, produces them in several provinces such as Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Chainat, Singburi, Pathumthani, Uthaithani, and Roi-Et. In this study, Roi-Et was chosen because it is one of the largest incense stick producers in Northeastern region of Thailand and has many small household factories. The Ngooleum village in Dong Dang sub district, Chaturaphak Phiman district in Roi-Et province, which has 12 subvillages, or “Moo”. Moo 12th of this village was selected because its income from incense production is higher than that of other subvillages. The main occupation in the village is incense worker; other occupations are farmer, shallot growing, merchant, and employee for supporting income. This area produces many types of incense stick but incense stick that Thai people call “Toop-sad” is the most popular. The total length is about 20 centimeters; the upper part is mixed with sawdust and other components, and the lower part is generally colored by dipping in red or pink dye. The dyeing color is commonly a synthetic color powder that may contain heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, and zinc. The heavy metal concentration level depends on trade name and mixing ratio between dyeing color and water in each small household factory. The usual incense stick making process has 6 steps, which are 1) bamboo preparation, 2) incense powder mixing, 3) incense molding, 4) color dipping and dyeing, 5) perfume spraying, and 6) packing. Among these steps, packing may cause the highest risk of dermal exposure because most workers pack incense products without hand protection. Heavy metals can cause long-term health problems such as cancer, kidney damage, nervous system damage, skin changes, impaired cognitive, lethargy, insomnia, and emotional instability. Acute effects can also occur, including headaches, skin rash, cramps, vomiting, sweating and difficulty breathing [2].
This study focused on dermal exposure to heavy metals in the dyes used in incense production. Thus, hand wipe technique [3-5] was employed to collect heavy metal residues on workers’ hands. Findings were then used in risk assessment [6].working, after working by non-using gloves, and after washing hands during morning. And selected 10 small household factories from those 35 households for were assigned to use gloves and hand wipe samples were collected after working from these factories later on.
A three-part questionnaire for surveying dermal exposure to heavy metal was completed. One hundred participants including packing workers from 35 household factories were chosen for question by face-to-face interview in the morning before the workers start their daily work. The questionnaire queried age, gender, individual exposure parameters, and subjective signs and symptoms potentially related to dermal heavy metal exposure.