Comments on the recommendation of the Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL) for wood dust

In June 2002 the Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits (SCOEL) recommended a health-based exposure limit of 0.5 mg/m 3 for wood dusts and called for comments and opinions on this recommendation. Health impairments of the upper and lower respiratory tracts were taken as a basis, not cancer. The authors comment on this proposal and wish to emphasize that the sampling methods in the studies cited by the SCOEL did not refer to the EN481, and the distribution of the concentrations were not correctly characterized which, in many cases, led to the adoption of far too low exposure values. Furthermore it is difficult to make a distinction between severe and minor health impairments, as described by the SCOEL; moreover, a dose-response relationship is lacking. The authors therefore do not consider an exposure limit to be feasible that is based on the studies cited by the SCOEL.