Bladder tumours and occupation: a coroner's notification scheme

Abstract

Veys, C. A. (1974).British Journal of Industrial Medicine,31, 65-71. Bladder tumours and occupation: a coroner's notification scheme. The disease of bladder cancer accounted for 2 763 male and 1 107 female deaths in England and Wales during 1971. How much of this total is influenced by aetiological factors in the working environment is still largely unknown and is only now beginning to be studied. In order to elucidate this question further, a coroner's notification scheme for all bladder tumours occuring within a defined geographical area was started in 1965. Details of all persons dying, on whose death certificate a bladder tumour was mentioned, were notified to the coroner's office within a six-year period (1965-70). A necropsy was carried out in almost all cases. A subsequent searching enquiry into the lifetime occupational history was conducted and this was then related to two industrial check-lists previously drawn up, on which the occupations listed exhibited either a true cause and effect relationship, or were merely associated in statistical terms. The finding that about 20% of persons dying of this disease had a suspicious occupational history of exposure to a carcinogen was broadly in agreement with some other recent surveys whose methodology was different. In only one third of these cases, however, could the working environment be directly and realistically implicated. The study supports the conclusion that the importance of occupational factors in the aetiology of bladder tumours has hitherto been underestimated.

Occurrence uses and carcinogenicity of arylamines

“…Dyestuff and chemical industrial workers, pigment and printing workers, textile dye workers, rubber and cable manufacture workers, gas workers, laboratory workers, handlers of certain rodenticides, and workers in the tar and pitch industries were © 1996-2015 reported to have a high incidence of bladder cancer because they were frequently exposed to arylamines (155,156). Other professions such as bus drivers, leather (including shoe) workers, blacksmiths, machine setters, mechanics, and hairdressers are also high risk groups of bladder cancer.…”

Surveillance of nasal and bladder cancer to locate sources of exposure to occupational carcinogens.

“…Studies that followed the sentinel event approach of Rutsein et al have identified case series, then used case by case evaluations to assess the relation of a disease event to work.3 6 The ability to assess aetiology on an individual basis was a criterion for selecting diseases for the United States sentinel event notification system for occupational risks (SENSOR).3 For cancer, and most other diseases on the sentinel events list, it would be difficult to attribute cause on an individual basis, as most cancers with occupational aetiologies also occur in the absence of such exposures. Surveillance would require analytical methods which compare groups.…”

Carcinogenicity allergenicity and lupus-inducibility of arylamines

“…Also, Hueper (1942) suggested that aromatic amines were responsible for bladder cancer in humans (33). Dyestuff workers, chemical industrial workers, and handlers of certain rodenticides as well as pigment, printing, textile, rubber, cable, gas, tar, pitch and laboratory workers were reported to have a high incidence of bladder cancer because they were frequently exposed to arylamines (34,35). Other professions such as bus drivers, leather (including shoe) workers, blacksmiths, machine setters, mechanics, and hairdressers are also high risk groups of bladder cancer.…”