Exposure Assessment for Biomass Smoke among “Rice in the Bamboo”
Producing Workers: Comparison between PM_2.5,
Levoglucosan and Methoxyphenols

Tanongsak Yingratanasuk^a, Voravit Cheevaporn^b, Sastri Saowakontha^a Vipoosit Muntanachitra^a, Chris Simpson^c, Michael Paulsen^c, and Gretchen Onstat^c

^a Faculty of Public Health, Burapha University, Chonburi 20131, Thailand.

^b Faculty of Science, Rambhai Barni Rajabhat University,Chantaburi 22000, Thailand.

^c Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Washington, USA.

Received 11 February; Accepted 30 March 2009

Abstract
     This study focuses on comparing different measurements of biomass smoke exposure among “rice in the bamboo” producing workers in Thailand. Repeated measurements of PM_2.5, 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. PM_2.5 did poorly for a choice of biomass smoke measurement.

Keywords: biomass smoke; exposure assessment; environmental monitoring; biomarker of exposure; epidemiological study

* corresponding author : Tanongsak Yingratanasuk

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