Determinants of urinary thioethers, D-glucaric acid and mutagenicity after exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons assessed by air monitoring and measurement of 1-hydroxypyrene in urine: a cross-sectional study in workers of coke and graphite-electrode-producing plants

A cross-sectional epidemiological study was performed on 286 workers from two coke oven and one graphite electrode plants. The aim was to evaluate the usefulness of monitoring 1-hydroxypyrene (1-HOP) in urine for assessing exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and that of the urinary excretion of thioethers and D-glucaric acid, and the mutagenic activity of urine as indicators or biological effects of PAHs. The results confirm that 1-HOP determination in urine probably reflects exposure to PAHs by all routes and is not significantly influenced by the smoking habit. In comparison with the total PAHs in the air and 1-hydroxypyrene in urine, taken as reference exposure parameters, the results indicate that urinary D-glucaric acid excretion is not positively influenced by PAHs exposure; thioethers determination in urine is of poor value, since the smoking habit is a strong confounding factor. The determination of urinary mutagenicity might contribute to the detection of groups of workers exposed to potentially genotoxic PAHs

Science de l'Homme et domination rationnelle : Savoir ethnologique et politique indigène en Afrique coloniale française

International audienceThis paper explores the uses of the Weberian notion of «rational domination» as a tool for analysing the relationships between efforts by the Colonial State at controlling native populations and the development of a specific form of scientific rationality, taking these populations as objects: anthropological knowledge. Focusing on French colonial Africa, it argues that the aspects of instrumentation (with the production of instruments of identification and understanding) and of legitimization play an essential part in the emergence of a knowledge on native societies and cultures, firstly within the administration, but also in metropolitan scientific institutions. Support for the development of the science of man takes place within the framework of projects or «rationalization» of colonial domination that draw together scientists and reformers attached to the Colonial School, aiming at professionalizing the role of «colonial administrator», redefining it as a «specialist of natives».L'article explore la notion wébérienne de «domination rationnelle» comme outil pour analyser les rapports entre les efforts de gestion des populations indigènes par l'État colonial, et le développement d'une forme spécifique de rationalité scientifique, prenant pour objet ces populations: les savoirs anthropologiques. En s'appuyant sur le cas de l'Afrique coloniale française, on s'efforce de montrer comment les dimensions d'instrumentation (avec la production d'instruments d'identification et de compréhension) et de légitimation sont essentielles dans l'émergence de savoirs sur les sociétés et les cultures indigènes, d'abord au sein des appareils administratifs, mais aussi dans les institutions savantes métropolitaines. L'appui au développement de la science de l'homme se fait dans le cadre de projets de «rationalisation» de la colonisation qui rapprochent des savants et des réformateurs liés à l'École coloniale, voulant redéfinir la profession d'administrateur colonial comme «spécialiste des indigènes»