A mortality study of vinyl chloride monomer workers employed in the United Kingdom in 1940-1974.

Abstract

JONES RD, SMITH OM, THOMAS PG. A mortality study of vinyl chloride monomer workers employed in the United Kingdom in 1940-1974. Scand J Work En viron Health 14 (1988 153-160. The mortalit y experience of 5 498 male wor kers emp loyed for at least one year during 1940-1 974 in th e vinyl chloride indu str y of the United Kingdom was followed through to 31 December 1984. Th ere was a significant excess of nonsecondary liver tumors with II deaths, of which seven were ang iosar coma s. All the an giosarcoma deaths occurred in auto clave workers with a median lat ency of 25 years from date of first exposur e. A strong health y worker effect was seen. Oth er than that for liver cancer, no increased incidence of cancer death s attributa ble to vinyl ch loride mon omer exposure was found . There was no evidence of increased mortality from chronic liver d isease. T he incidence of death from respirat ory disease was low and was not af fected by polyvinyl chlo ride dust exposure.

Toxicokinetic modeling and its applications in chemical risk assessment

“…This estimate was the input into a linear relative risk model for hemangiosarcoma, along with the observed and expected cancer deaths, in order to derive an estimate of carcinogenic potency in the population. The range of risk estimated in humans by this tissue dose-based analysis for three epidemiological cohorts (Fox and Collier, 1977;Jones et al, 1988;Simonato et al, 1991) ranged from 0.4 to 4.22 cases/million/ppb, a remarkably good agreement with the estimates from the animal bioassay. When the predicted human risks were based on biologically appropriate dose metrics, interspecies scaling of lifetime cancer risks with VC were successfully performed on the basis of lifetime average daily tissue dose.…”

Effects of exposure to vinyl chloride. An assessment of the evidence.

“…Two other possibilities have, however, been raised, namely, the production of nonmalignant respiratory disease, because of the changes in lung function and radiographic appearances that have been recorded for men exposed to PVC dust (2,26,27,44), and acute cardiac death, from analogy with the effect of other halogenated hydrocarbons (25) and the observation of an increased mortality from myocardial infarction in the few years following the cessation of exposure in the Swedish PVC processing industry (35). Relevant figures for the numbers of deaths from these and other nonmalignant causes that are obtainable from the four principal studies were given in table 2, and they have been summarized in table 7.…”

“…Relevant figures for the numbers of deaths from these and other nonmalignant causes that are obtainable from the four principal studies were given in table 2, and they have been summarized in table 7. (14) and the United Kingdom (UK) (25) by characteristics relevant to an occupational hazard . (0 =observed number of deaths, E =expected number of deaths, SMR = standardized mortality ratio) a 1 = United States study (14), 2 = United Kingdom study (25), 3 = Canadian study (46), and 4 = Italian study (4).…”

“…(14) and the United Kingdom (UK) (25) by characteristics relevant to an occupational hazard . (0 =observed number of deaths, E =expected number of deaths, SMR = standardized mortality ratio) a 1 = United States study (14), 2 = United Kingdom study (25), 3 = Canadian study (46), and 4 = Italian study (4). Cirrhosis of the fiver.…”

Meta-analysis of studies of occupational exposure to vinyl chloride in relation to cancer mortality

“…The European multicenter study (5,14) included most of the persons previously studied in the United Kingdom (15,16), Norway (17,18), Italy (19,20), and Sweden (21-23), but the populations described in national reports did not completely overlap with those in the large multicenter study, due to different entry criteria (table 2). Therefore, the results of the individual studies could not be included in a meta-analysis.…”