Sucre Ethique - INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE/OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT:Evaluating Potential Hazards Associated with Chemicals and Work Practices at the Ingenio San Antonio (Chichigalpa, Nicaragua)

Boston University School of Public Health - lundi 2 août 2010

The purpose of the industrial hygiene assessment was to evaluate the current work practices at the Ingenio San Antonio (ISA) during the 2009-2010 zafra (harvest), as well as the chemicals used at ISA both currently and in the past.

Based on the results of currently available chemical and toxicological information and the ISA site visit, the ultimate goal of this task was to answer two key questions agreed to by the participants at the Dialogue Table in January 2010 :

1. Is there evidence that current work practices or chemicals used by ISA currently or in the past cause CRI ?

2. Is there evidence that current work practices or chemicals used by ISA currently or in the past are associated with CRI (e.g., have been shown to cause kidney damage in animals ?)

We have interpreted Question 1 as intended to address whether particular practices or chemicals are "generally accepted" causes of chronic renal insufficiency (CKI). Therefore, we have addressed Question 1 based on our assessment of work practices at ISA and on information that is generally accessible from United States’ government health and environment agencies such the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), and other comparable international agencies.

We have interpreted Question 2 as actually having two subparts as follows :

2a. Is there evidence that current work practices or exposure to chemicals used by ISA currently or in the past are associated with CRI (defined by high creatinine/reduced kidney function) ?

2b. Is there evidence that current work practices or exposure to chemicals used by ISA currently or in the past are associated with acute kidney damage in humans or animals ?

We have addressed Question 2 based on our assessment of ISA work practices and on the results of an extensive literature review to consider whether activities and potential exposures at ISA could cause CRI specifically (Question 2a) and acute kidney damage (Question 2b).

The reasons for our interpretation of each question are addressed in Section V of the report.

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