• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.160-165
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• 1998

The Joint curing barns for flue-cured tobacco is a favorite with the tobacco farmers in Korea. However, most of farmer utilizing the joint curing barns indicated many problems such as high temperature and noise in the working room and a dry of cured leaves in the storage room. A structure of Joint curing barns has been modified to meet the needs of tobacco farmers. Compared with the unimproved joint curing barns, the improved one showed that the noise of workshop decreased about 7.7～10.8db, the amount of $CO_2$ decreased 40～50ppm in a working room and 80～100ppm in a machine room. Ammonia gas decreased 0.29mg/㎥ and the temperature of a working room dropped about 2.1～3.5$^{\circ}C$. The amount of air flow in a working room increased 23.2% at a site being 2m away from the entrance and 30.8% at a center. The inner temperature of the improved storage room showed that maximum temperature dropped about 3$^{\circ}C$, minimum temperature was high about 2$^{\circ}C$. The highest relative humidity was low 6%, the lowest one increased high about 10% when compared with the unimproved joint curing barns.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.144-149
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• 2014

Objectives: Nicotine is a natural alkaloid and insecticide in tobacco leaves. Green tobacco sickness (GTS) is known as a disease of acute nicotine intoxication among tobacco farmers. Until now, GTS has been recognized globally as a disease that results from nicotine absorption through the skin. However, we assumed that GTS might also result from nicotine inhalation as well as absorption. We aimed to measure the airborne nicotine concentrations in various work environments of Korean tobacco farmers. Methods: We measured the nicotine concentrations in the tobacco fields, private curing barns, and joint curing barns of farmers from July to October 2010. All sampling and analyses of airborne nicotine were conducted according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health manual of analytic methods. Results: The airborne nicotine concentrations (geometric mean [geometric standard deviation]) in the tobacco field were $83.4mg/m^3$ (1.2) in the upper region and $93.3mg/m^3$(1.2) in the lower region. In addition, the nicotine concentration by personal sampling was $150.1mg/m^3$. Similarly, the nicotine concentrations in the private curing barn, workers in curing barns, the front yard of the curing barn, and in the joint curing barn were $323.7mg/m^3$(2.0), $121.0mg/m^3$(1.5), $73.7mg/m^3$(1.7), and $610.3mg/m^3$(1.0), respectively. Conclusions: The nicotine concentration in the workplaces of tobacco farmers was very high. Future studies should measure the environmental concentration of nicotine that is inhaled by tobacco farmers.