Following the publication of the NIOSH nickel criteria document in 1977, the Joint Occupational Health Committee of the International Nickel Company (INCO) commissioned a mortality study of the company's Ontario workforce. This paper describes the detailed methodology and primary mortality results of the ensuing study; subsequent papers will describe more detailed findings of cause-specific mortality. An historical prospective mortality study of approximately 54,000 INCO workers has been conducted. Men with six months or more of service were followed for mortality during a 35-year period by computerized record linkage to the Canadian National Mortality Data Base. From a company-provided list of men known to have died and through independent follow-up of a random sample of 1,000 subjects of unknown status, we estimate a mortality ascertainment rate of 95%. Cause-specific standardized mortality ratios calculated with respect to Ontario provincial mortality rates indicate an excess of accidental deaths in men working in the Sudbury area and an excess of cancer deaths at the company's Port Colborne nickel refinery. A strong healthy worker effect was found for both all-disease mortality ad cancer mortality. The lower than expected mortality persisted for about 15 years beyond initial hiring.
This symposium had two chairmen because of its wide-ranging concern with health, covering issues of boron reproductive toxicity at one extreme and boron essentiality at the other. Dr. Ernest Mastromatteo was asked to summarize the issues presented by the speakers, with a special focus on human effects. Dr. Frank Sullivan was asked to summarize the presentations with a special focus on implications for future research.
Summary of IssuesMany of you have seen me worriedly writing in the corner, sometimes furiously, trying to get down all the very important points that the conference speakers were making. It is now my task to try to sum up this conference and to give you my idea of the implications for human health on the basis of the latest information presented here. There was a wide range of papers, including the chemical and physical properties of the element and its compounds; their uses; the various methods for the analysis of boron in plants, animals, and humans, as well as in air, water and soil; the biochemical and pharmacological effects of boron in plants, animals, and humans; the effects of dietary boron in experimental animals; the effects of boron in human nutrition and human physiology; the toxicology of boric acid and borax, including developmental and reproductive toxicity; and the assessment of health effects among workers exposed to boric acid and borates in their
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