Who Is at Risk for Exposure to Carbon Tetrachloride?

After completing this section, you will be able to

• Identify who is at risk for exposure to carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄).

Exposures that occur to workers involved in the manufacture or use of CCl₄ are potentially higher than exposures occurring in the general U.S. population.

People living near waste sites or areas of heavy carbon tetrachloride use might have an increased risk for exposure from contaminated media (air, water, or soil).

Workers employed in industries that manufacture or use CCl₄ are at greater risk for exposure to higher levels of CCl₄ than the general U.S. population.

Workers who might be exposed to CCl₄ include:

• Air transportation workers,
• Hazardous waste workers,
• Museum workers,
• Pharmaceutical manufacturers,
• Steel mill and blast furnace workers,
• Telephone and telegraph equipment manufacturers, and
• Workers in tin-waste recovery operations.

Other workers who no longer use CCl₄, such as the following, might have been exposed in the past:

• Automobile mechanics,
• Dry cleaners,
• Grain workers (inspection, storage, milling, processing), and
• Pesticide applicators.

Subsets of the U.S. population, such as people who live near hazardous waste sites or facilities that use or manufacture CCl₄, might be exposed to localized higher air concentrations of CCl₄.

Because background levels of CCl₄ in ambient air are low and continue to decline, the U.S. general population is not likely to be exposed to large amounts of carbon tetrachloride. The 2015 annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers documented 52 CCl₄ exposures that had no major outcomes [AAPCC 2015].

• Workers using CCl₄ or CCl₄-containing products are potentially at risk for exposure to higher levels of CCl₄ than the general U.S. population.
• People who live near hazardous waste sites or facilities that use or manufacture CCl₄, might be exposed to localized higher air concentrations of CCl₄.