Cancer mortality in the British rubber industry.

Abstract

Although it is over 30 years since an excess of bladder cancer was first identified in British rubber workers, the fear has persisted that this hazard could still be affecting men working in the industry today. Furthermore, suspicions have also arisen that other and hitherto unsuspected excesses of cancer might be occurring. For these reasons 33 815 men, who first started work in the industry between 1 January 1946 and 31 December 1960, have been followed up to 31 December 1975 to ascertain the number of deaths attributable to malignant disease and to compare these with the expected number calculated from the published mortality rates applicable to the male population of England and Wales and Scotland. The findings confirm the absence of any excess mortality from bladder cancer among men entering the industry after 1 January 1951 (the presumed bladder carcinogens were withdrawn from production processes in July 1949), but they confirm also a statistically significant excess of both lung and stomach cancer mortality. A small excess of oesophageal cancer was also observed in both the tyre and general rubber goods manufacturing sectors. American reports of an excess of leukaemia among rubber workers receive only limited support from the present study, where a small numerical excess of deaths from leukaemia is not statistically significant. A special feature of the study is the adoption of an analytical method that permits taking into account the long latent period of induction of occupational cancer.The existence of an occupational bladder cancer hazard has been reco,nised in the British rubber industry since 1950,; the current position has recently been reviewed by one of us.5 During the early 1 970s epidemiological studies were extended on both sides of the Atlantic to the investigation of the total mortality pattern of rubber workers, but with special emphasis on deaths from cancer. It has for some time been suggested that other and hitherto unsuspected excesses of cancer could also be present in addition to the recognised excess of occupational bladder cancer. Unpublished preliminary observations using proportional mortality data collected in the course of a study of bladder cancer by the British Rubber Manufacturers' Association (BRMA) did provide some evidence of an excess of both lung and stomach cancers.On 1 February 1967 a survey6 was set up by the then senior medical inspector of factories to determine whether there was a continuing risk of bladder cancer in the rubber and cable-making industries.On that date a detailed census was undertaken in

Esophageal cancer and occupation in a cohort of swedish men

“…Excesses in esophageal cancer among brewery workers [Adelhardt et al, 1985;Olsen and Jensen, 19871, waiters [Petersen and Milham, 1980;Andersen et al, 1989;Bulbulyan et al, 19921, and perhaps sales agents and butchers [Milham, 19831, may be related in part to alcohol drinking and smoking. However, the reduction in risk among professional and agricultural workers demonstrated in this study and in a number of previous investigations [Saftlas et al, 1987;Kato et al, 1990;Blair and Zahm, 19911 may in part be due to their relatively healthy lifestyle, including low exposure to smoking and alcohol [Pomrehn et al, 1982;Ronco et al, 19921. Our finding of an excess incidence of esophageal cancer among men employed in rubber industry, particularly in vulcanizing shops, is consistent with those of several earlier investigations [Parkes et al, 1982;Norell et al, 1983;Sorahan et al, 19891, but not others [Fox and Collier, 1976;Neugut and Wylie, 19871. A nearly significant twofold risk of esophageal cancer was associated with employment in the gas, electricity, and water plants in an earlier case-control study [Magnani et al, 19871, but risks for specific industries within this category was not reported. In the current study, increased incidence was largely confined to employment in gas plants and public cleaning works.…”

Urothelial cell DNA adducts in rubber workers†

“…Interestingly, the observed differences in DNA adduct levels by production functions were comparable to the distribution of the urinary bladder cancer risk in the past. Urinary bladder cancer risk was then observed in various work areas but mostly in the compounding and mixing departments [Parkes et al, 1982;Sorahan et al, 1986], which suggests that the observed DNA adducts in this study might be related to exposure to one or more constituents of raw rubber chemicals, carbon black, or process oils used within the rubber industry. Only structural characterization of the detected DNA adducts, however, could have given more insight into the chemical origin of these DNA adducts.…”

Airborne exposures and risk of gastric cancer: A prospective cohort study

“…Finally, any ''healthy worker effect'' was avoided, since workers were internally compared. 23 There have been reports on positive associations between various occupational groups and risk of gastric cancer, 10,12 notably ''dusty'' occupations, e.g., coal and tin mining, [24][25][26][27][28][29] metal processing, [30][31][32][33][34][35] rubber manufacturing [36][37][38][39][40] and carpentry or construction work. 10,12 Other dusty work environments have also been implicated in the etiology.…”