Exposure Assessment for Biomass Smoke among “Rice in the Bamboo”

Abstract

This study focuses on comparing different measurements of biomass smoke exposure among “rice in the bamboo” producing workers in Thailand. Repeated measurements of PM2.5, levoglucosan, and urinary methoxyphenols concentrations from a subsample of the exposed workers were analyzed. The analyses of variance components and variance ratios were calculated using ANOVA, and t-tests comparison on the before and after exposure levels. The results of the study revealed that levoglucosan measurement in the personal breathing zone was the most suitable measure of exposure to biomass smoke in this group of population. Urinary methoxyphenols offered no great advantage over environmental monitoring in this study. PM2.5 did poorly for a choice of biomass smoke measurement