Individual benzene exposure levels and biomarkers
of exposure to benzene (blood benzene and the urinary
metabolites MA and S-PMA) in the temple workers are
summarized in Table 2. Templeworkers were exposed to
a significantly higher level of benzene in the ambient air
compared to control workers (P < 0.001). Consequently,
the levels of various biomarkers of exposure were also
significantly higher. The mean level of blood benzene
in temple workers (792.06 ng/l) was approximately 3-
fold higher than that of control workers (238.34 ng/l,
P < 0.001). At pre-shift, templeworkers excreted urinary
MAand S-PMA at levels not significantly different from
those of the control workers. However, the post-shift
levels of MA and S-PMA in temple workers increased
significantly and were approximately 5-fold (0.52 versus
0.1 mg/g creatinine, P < 0.001) and 3-fold (1.10 versus
0.35g/g creatinine, P < 0.01), higher than in control workers, respectively. Among temple workers, urinary
MA and S-PMA levels at post-shift were approximately
2-fold higher (at P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively)
when compared to pre-shift levels, thus confirming that
significant exposure to benzene occurred during thework
shift.