bennymac111

just an opinion from a random coffee fan, but if you can find a good Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, give it a try. There's a local roaster that does one superbly - it's like having a blueberry / lemon muffin in a coffee format, right down to a perfectly browned muffin crust. This is the roastery I have in mind, but it looks like they don't have any available at the moment - https://eclipsecoffeeroasters.com/.

not the OP's / docs, but I've seen shift work come up in my profession (worker exposures) - its considered a 2A carcinogen by IARC (same group as glyphosate, creosote, styrene etc).

like most respiratory protection, it would be best suited for use in conjunction with other controls. showing symptoms? stay home. working near others? maybe improve dilution ventilation in the work area if possible. continue rapid testing for individuals. continue promoting vaccinations etc. all of the tools combined improve the odds of success.

ya, i think its probably worse the more frequently you switch between day shift and night shift (ex: 3 days on day shift, 3 days night shift, couple days off, repeat for years on end etc being worse than a month of days, month of nights, month off), and there's some mechanism based on disruption to sex hormones that increases chances of breast cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer. I'm not going to pretend to have a solid grasp of the IARC classifications, since 'hot beverages' are also considered a 2A carcinogen (?), but from their site: "Disruption of normal physiological circadian rhythms is the most marked effect of night shift work. The IARC Monographs Working Group classified night shift work as “probably carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2A), on the basis of limited evidence of cancer in humans (for cancers of the breast, prostate, colon, and rectum), sufficient evidence of cancer in experimental animals, and strong mechanistic evidence in experimental animals."

just going to chime in here since I am also at an environmental consulting firm, but specialize in air sampling / exposure to airborne contaminants. you can sample specifically for vinyl chloride (NIOSH 1007), rather than total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), using charcoal tube media. Cost is about $75USD/sample. You can also use a passive badge, which is about as easy as air sampling can get, to also sample specifically for vinyl chloride. An open characterization VOC sample can easily get up to $500/sample. It would likely be preferable to compare the air sample results to ACGIH TLV's as a starting point, since OSHA PEL's tend to be slow to be revised (in this, it looks like the values are actually the same either way, at 1 ppm). But - ACGIH TLV, OSHA PEL, NIOSH REL, others etc are intended for 8-hour exposure periods with 16hr recovery periods, for 40 hr work weeks. Measurements of a contaminant within a home is a different scenario since there could potentially be someone within the home 24 hours, so the exposure limit criteria would likely come down quite a bit, potentially to 0.1 ppm.

If i'm not mistaken EPA 6820D intends to quantify VOCs in solid waste media. That may not be the best route in this instance.

The other consideration to deal with is that concentrations of vinyl chloride (and others) are likely to subside quickly over time due to its volatility. So you'd have to think ahead - if you get 'high' results the first time you sample, and then 'low' results if you sampled again a week later, was that a significant risk to your health? There'd be other contaminants to worry about - carbon monoxide, hydrochloric acid, phosgene (to manage perceptions from the public & media), respirable particulate (PM2.5), potentially metals like iron oxide / manganese / maybe aluminum from the rail cars themselves etc.