Mortality among 24,865 workers exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in three electrical capacitor manufacturing plants: A ten-year update

Abstract

The objective of this analysis was to evaluate mortality among a cohort of 24,865 capacitormanufacturing workers exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at plants in Indiana, Massachusetts, and New York and followed for mortality through 2008. Cumulative PCB exposure was estimated using plant-specific job-exposure matrices. External comparisons to US and state-specific populations used standardized mortality ratios, adjusted for gender, race, age and calendar year. Among long-term workers employed 3 months or longer, within-cohort comparisons used standardized rate ratios and multivariable Poisson regression modeling. Through 2008, more than one million person-years at risk and 8749 deaths were accrued. Among long-term employees, all-cause and all-cancer mortality were not elevated; of the a priori outcomes assessed only melanoma mortality was elevated. Mortality was elevated for some outcomes of a priori interest among subgroups of long-term workers: all cancer, intestinal cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (women); melanoma (men); melanoma and brain and nervous system cancer (Indiana plant); and melanoma and multiple myeloma (New York plant). Standardized rates of stomach and uterine cancer and multiple myeloma mortality increased with estimated cumulative PCB exposure. Poisson regression modeling showed significant associations with estimated cumulative PCB exposure for prostate and stomach cancer mortality. For other outcomes of a priori interest -rectal, liver, ovarian, breast, and thyroid cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Alzheimer disease, and Parkinson disease -neither elevated mortality nor positive associations with PCB exposure were observed. Associations between estimated cumulative PCB exposure and stomach, uterine, and prostate cancer and myeloma mortality confirmed our previous positive findings.

Abundance and distribution of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in breast tissue

“…Numerous studies encompassing thousands of women have failed to detect an association between PCB levels in serum and breast cancer risk (Gammon et al, 2002;Rubin et al, 2006;Ruder et al, 2014). In this study, we observed the highest levels of PCB congeners in breast tissue from Groups II and III, which have been associated with breast cancer potential in vitro, but we detected no associations between total PCB levels, functional groupings, or individual congeners and clinical and pathological characteristics in women with breast disease.…”

Melanoma Epidemiology and Prevention

“…Relatively few studies have been conducted to look for specific environmental risk factors for melanoma, but among these, a number of studies have shown an elevated risk in individuals with suspected exposure to organochlorine compounds, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and some chlorine-based pesticides [1,146,161,198,203,207,208,220,240,248]. As noted above, although these studies have some significant limitations, the results, with few exceptions, for implied industrial PCB exposure have been fairly consistently positive.…”

Polychlorinated biphenyls and organochlorine pesticides in atmospheric particulate matter of Northern China: distribution, sources, and risk assessment

“…Despite the prohibition of OCPs in domestic and overseas, they were still extensively found in different regions owing to the historical residues themselves (Bozlaker et al 2009;Baek et al 2013). PCBs and OCPs could play important roles in some diseases on genital, nervous, endocrine, and respiratory system, leading to chronic-toxic effects and cancers (Ruder et al 2013). Both of these chemicals were classified as priority pollutants by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on account of their high toxicity, carcinogenic property, and resistance to degradation (Bräuner et al 2011).…”