What Are the Exposure Limits
for the Bromothane™ Cleaning Agents?

After numerous toxicity studies and after years of research and deliberations, on Jan. 31, 2005 the American Conference of Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) finally finalized and established a "Threshold Limit Value" (TLV) of 10 parts-per-million for an eight-hour time-weighted workday. This TLV applies to the "Bromothane™" brand solvents sold by MicroCare and to all other versions on nPB marketed by other companies under their own brand names. While 10 ppm is considered a relatively "low" toxicity level, meaning some risk of use, MicroCare and Great Lakes Chemical Corp. have for years felt 10 ppm was the proper and correct rating. Therefore, all of the Bromothane™ literature, procedures and training are built around the processes required to keep worker exposures below 10 ppm.

The new TLV represents airborne concentrations to which nearly all workers may be repeatedly exposed without adverse effect. As a way of comparison, the 8-hr TLV values for the most common components in the most popular competing products are:

In general, "toxicity" is measured through the use of 8- and 12-hour "time-weighted average exposure limits" (AEL). Similar terms you might find on labels and MSDS sheets include "Average Exposure Limits" (AEL), "Personal Exposure Limits" (PEL) and "Threshold Exposure Limits" (TEL). One special term are the "Threshold Limit Values" (TLVs) which only are established by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). While there are some technical differences between the terms, the general intent is identical: to quantify the relative safety of a chemical product. There are also exposure limits for shorter time periods and even "instantaneous" exposure limits which further quantify the risk of using a specific chemical.

As a bit of background, the "8-hour time-weighted exposure limit" is estimated to be one-tenth the minimum airborne concentration of vapors to which workers may be repeatedly exposed for an eight-hour workday over a hypothetical thirty-year career without suffering any possible health effects. All exposure limits are expressed in "parts per million" (ppm). For example, about 18% of the air we breathe is pure oxygen. This means that oxygen is present in the atmosphere at 180,000 parts per million.

To ensure worker safety and the cost-effective use of the solvent, MicroCare has established the industry's leading Product Stewardship Program for solvents. This program is offered free to all customers.

Updated: March 23, 2005
©Copyright 2004 MicroCare Corp., All Rights Reserved
The term "Bromothane", "BromoBooster", "BromoTest" and the Bromothane logo are trademarks of MicroCare Corp.