Carbon disulphide. Health-based recommended occupational exposure limit

At request of the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, the Dutch Expert Committee on Occupational Safety (DECOS), a committee of the Health Council of the Netherlands, recommends health-based occupational exposure limits for airborne substances to which people can be exposed in the air at the workplace. These recommendations serve as a basis in setting legally binding limit values by the Minister.

In 1994, the Health Council published an advice on the toxicity of carbon disulphide. In 2008, the Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL), an advisory committee of the European Commission, published an evaluation on the toxicity of carbon disulphide as well. In the present advice, the Committee reconsidered the former health-based occupational exposure limits for carbon disulphide based on the report of SCOEL and additional studies published since 2006.

Committee

• G.J. Mulder, Emeritus Professor of Toxicology, Leiden University, Leiden, chairman
• P.J. Boogaard, Toxicologist, Shell International BV, The Hague
• D.J.J. Heederik, Professor of Risk Assessment in Occupational Epidemiology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht
• B.P.F.D. Hendrikx, Social and Economic Council, The Hague, advisor
• R. Houba, Occupational Hygienist, The Netherlands Expertise Centre for Occupational Respiratory Disorders, Utrecht
• H. van Loveren, Professor of Immunotoxicology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, and National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven
• T.M. Pal, Occupational Physician, Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases, Amsterdam
• A.H. Piersma, Professor of Reproductive Toxicology, Utrecht University, Utrecht and National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven
• H.P.J. te Riele, Professor of Molecular Biology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam
• I.M.C.M. Rietjens, Professor of Toxicology, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen
• G.M.H. Swaen, Epidemiologist, Dow Benelux N.V., Terneuzen
• R.C.H. Vermeulen, Epidemiologist/Environmental Hygienist, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht
• R.A. Woutersen, Professor of Translational Toxicology, Wageningen University, Wageningen, and TNO Quality of Life, Zeist
• P.B. Wulp, Occupational Physician, Labour Inspectorate, Groningen
• J.T.J. Stouten, The Health Council, The Hague, scientific secretary

Part II of this advice is based on the 1994 report of the Health Council and the 2008 report of the Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL), and was updated in 2009 by P.J.M. Weterings, Weterings Consultancy BV, Rosmalen, the Netherlands.