Health-based recommended occupational exposure limits for biological agents

Bacteria, moulds, viruses, yeasts, parasites are omnipresent in our day-to-day living environment. Occupational exposure to the biological agents may give rise to adverse health effects. The Health Council of the Netherlands has examined the possibility of establishing health-based exposure limits for airborne biological agents, ie. a threshold concentration below which exposure will not result in health effects. For biological agents giving rise to toxic and/or allergic effects it is in theory possible to derive health-based recommended occupational exposure limits. However, the amount of quantitative information available in practice is limited. For biological agents that mainly give rise to infectious diseases, it will not be possible in the short term to determine health-based recommended occupational exposure limits. Therefore, the Health Council recommends a preventive approach to these agents, and stresses the importance of knowledge development and implementation in this field.