摘要:

AbstractRegulations controlling the manufacture and use of carcinogens in the industrial setting of various countries are examined. In addition, the occupational exposure limits (OEL) of chemicals known or suspected to be carcinogenic in humans are listed, and criteria for the establishment of OELs are discussed. It is also stressed that control measures should not be confined to a few developed countries, and it is hoped that attracting attention to their unevenness will contribute to the implementation of a more efficient primary prevention of cancer.

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700120502

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractA review of 120 papers on the health effects on workers in the petroleum manufacturing and distribution industry revealed inconsistent results.A full report citing all these references was produced for CONCAWE (the oil companies' European organization for environmental and health protection) in March 1986. This paper summarizes the main findings and updates the review to February 1987.This may be due in part to the variable quality of the epidemiological studies. There is, however, the consistent finding of a deficit for “all causes mortality” and for “all cancers mortality,” thus implying that a widespread serious health effect of gasoline exposure seems remote. For specific health effects, the possibility exists that occupational etiological factors may play a part in the pathogenesis of brain cancer and renal disease. The evidence for a link between occupational and other health effects is weak. Further work of better quality is necessary to investigate those diseases in which there remains a suspicion of an occupational e

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700120503

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractExchanges between U.S. and Chinese professionals have provided opportunities for observation of recent developments in occupational health in China. For the past decade, China has been committed to an unprecedented drive for economic modernization, including new policies on ownership, business management, employment, health care, and disability as well as increased activity in heavy, light, and service industries. Chinese occupational health professionals and labor organizations have set a goal of modernizing worker health along with the rest of society. Examples of advances in occupational health occurring since 1981 are the coordination of industrial hygiene and health research and services, an emphasis on epidemiology, interdisciplinary approaches to problem‐solving, the pretesting of toxic substances, regulation and standard setting, and on‐site workplace hazard prevent

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700120504

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractIn Sweden and Norway separate case‐control studies of pregnancy outcome for the period 1973–1981 among female workers in the plastics industry were carried out with similar design. Employment records were obtained from companies producing and/or processing plastics and these were matched with the national medical birth and malformation registers. Within the cohorts of pregnancies during which the mother held employment in a plastics industry (1.397 in the Swedish and 288 in the Norwegian study), cases of stillbirths or infant deaths, selected malformations, or low birthweight (<2,000 g) were identified. For each case two controls from the same source were individually matched with regard to date of birth, age of mother, and parity. Exposure data concerning the 44 Swedish and ten Norwegian triplets were obtained from the employers. An increased odds ratio was found for processing of polyvinylchloride (PVC) plastics (95% CI Sweden 1.0–5.1; total material 1.1–4.5). However, processing of cold plastics yielded a higher odds ratio than processing of heated plastics. No increased odds ratio was found for processing of styrene or polyurethane plastics. Since not all of the plastics industries in the two countries participated in the studies and the number of cases was small, the result must be interpreted with

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700120505

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThe effect of potential risk factors for multiple myeloma was evaluated in a case‐referent study encompassing 131 cases and 431 randomized referents, all alive. Information on exposure was obtained with questionnaires mailed to the subjects. An analysis of the material by means of the Miettinen confounder score technique resulted in a few rate ratios significantly exceeding unity—namely, occupational exposure to engine exhausts, creosote, and fresh wood. In view of other studies that suggest ionizing radiation as a risk factor, it was somewhat surprising that low‐level gamma radiation from background exposure was less common among the cases than the refe

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700120506

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractIn order to determine the possible actual exposure to benzene in the shoe industry from industrially used solvents, glues, and paints containing benzene as a nondeclared constituent, phenol in urine and benzene in blood, as indices of internal exposure to benzene, were measured in workers (N = 33). Since toluene, in contrast to benzene, is declared as a constituent in several glues, toluene in the blood of workers was also analysed. All analyses were performed using gas chromatography. Urine samples were collected on Monday morning (MI) before work and on Wednesday (WI) before and (WII) after work. Venous blood samples were taken on Wednesday only, 1/2 hour after work. There was no difference in the phenol concentrations of MIand WI, while the phenol concentration of WIIwas about twice as high as that in WI. In all blood samples, benzene was found, as well as toluene, which was about four times higher in comparison with benzene. A correlation (r = 0.465; p<.01) was found between the difference in preand postshift phenol concentrations (WII— WI) in urine and the benzene concentrations in blood. The results presented show that a trace amount of benzene, which is often not declared as a constitutent in industrially used chemicals, could be a source of marked exposure to benzene. It can also be concluded that changes in phenol in urine (if preshift and postshift samples are taken) might be a sufficiently sensitive parameter to assess exposure to benzene even when other data concerning the presence of benzene in the working atmosphere are not availabl

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700120507

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract4,4′‐Methylenebis (2‐chloroaniline) (MBOCA) is a confirmed animal carcinogen. It is used commercially as a curing agent for polymers containing isocyanate. There are no adequate studies documenting a carcinogenic risk for MBOCA in humans; however, studies in rats and dogs have shown that MBOCA is a carcinogen. Also, MBOCA is structurally similar to aromatic amines, which cause bladder cancer in workers with occupational exposure. Manufacture of MBOCA in the United States ceased in 1979. However, estimates of the number of workers potentially exposed range from 1,400 to 33,000 in the manufacture of MBOCA‐cured products. Presently, there are no federal regulations limiting occupational exposure to MBOCA. An occupational standard for MBOCA proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was remanded by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on procedural grounds in 1974. NIOSH recommended in 1978 that MBOCA be treated as a potential human carcinogen and that worker exposure be controlled so that it does not exceed 3 μg/m3of air determined as a time‐weighted average concentration for up to a 10‐hour workshift (the lowest level that can be reliably measured). In this paper, we will review the literature in regard to MBOCA's carcinogenicity, describe industrial use and extent of worker exposure, and review MBOCA's status in relation to occupational regulations in the United State

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700120508

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractA method for qualitative estimation of the exposure at task level was used and validated with actual measurements in five small factories. The results showed that occupational hygienists were in general the most successful estimators. Plant supervisors and workers handled the estimation method less successfully because of more misclassification of the tasks.The method resulted, in general, in a classification of tasks in four exposure categories ranging from no exposure to high exposure. The exposure categories correlated positively with mean concentrations, but showed overlapping exposure distributions. This resulted in misclassification of the exposure for individual workers when a relatively large interindividual variability in exposure levels within an exposure category was present.The results show that this method can be used for workplace exposure zoning, but that the usefulness of the estimates for epidemiological purposes is not clear‐cut and depends strongly on the actual exposure characteristics within a workplace.A combination of the qualitative exposure estimation method together with assessment of the exposure levels by measurements makes a rearrangement of tasks or individual workers possible and could improve the validity of this method for epidemiological purpose

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700120509

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractThere have been few mortality studies conducted on working women despite their increasing presence in the work environment. This paper presents the findings of a cohort mortality study of 10,839 female employees with three or more days of service between 1940 and 1982 at the Midland or Bay City, Michigan, locations of the Dow Chemical Company. The cohort included substantial numbers of production and research personnel but was primarily comprised of clerical and office workers. Vital status was ascertained through 1982 for 89.4 percent of the cohort members, and death certificates were obtained for 94.0 percent of the 467 decedents. Comparisons of observed mortality with expected levels based on mortality rates for the U.S., Michigan, and a local 7‐county area revealed consistently lower mortality in the cohort from the major causes of death, indicating a strong “healthy worker effect.” Mortality from cancer of the cervix was significantly below expected levels, especially among women who were hired before 25 years of age. This observation, when combined with a nonsignificant excess of breast cancer, suggests a different distribution of maritally and sexually related risk factors between working and general populations of women. This and other findings are discussed relative to methodologic problems likely to accompany studies of working

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700120510

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

AbstractCause‐specific mortality patterns among Rhode Island jewelry manufacturing workers, as identified on death certificates from 1968 to 1978, were examined using the proportionate mortality ratio (PMR) method. Among males, elevated PMRs were observed for nonmalignant kidney disease (PMR = 163; Observed deaths [Obs] = 19; p ± .05), liver cancer (PMR = 297; Obs = 6; p ± .05), drug dependence (PMR = 379; Obs = 5; p ± .05), and accidental poisonings (PMR = 274; Obs = 8; p ± .05). All but one of the deaths from accidental poisonings involved drugs or drugs and alcohol. Among females, elevated PMRs were observed for stomach cancer (PMR = 174; Obs = 20; p ± .01), peptic ulcer (PMR = 235; Obs = 8; p ± .05), diseases of the skin and subcutaneous tissue (PMR = 383; Obs = 5; p ± .05), and drug dependence (PMR = 674; Obs = 3; p ± .05). Exposure to known renal toxins (heavy metals and solvents) used in the jewelry industry may account for the excess deaths from kidney disease. The elevated PMR for liver cancer may be due to exposure to solvents (trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene, carbon tetrachloride) that cause liver cancer in animals. The elevated PMRs for drug dependence and accidental poisonings may be due to the socioeconomic status of jewelry workers, or to the interaction between solvents used in jewelry manufacturing and drugs, or drugs and alcohol. Because of the lack of information about the specific occupational exposures of the decedents, this should be viewed as an exploratory investigation requiring further

ISSN:0271-3586    

DOI:10.1002/ajim.4700120511

出版商:Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company    

年代:1987

数据来源: WILEY