Mortality among employees at a plastics and resins research and development facility.

Abstract

Objectives-The study was undertaken to update a previous study of employees from a resins and plastics research and development facility and to further examine the mortality of these employees with particular emphasis on deaths due to pancreatic cancer. Methods-This retrospective cohort study examined mortality from 1962 to 1992 for 257 men who were employed for at least one year during a 14 year period from 1962 to 1975 at a plastics and resins research and development facility. During the operative period, the primary activities involved applications and process development for polypropylene, polystyrene, epoxy resins, and to a lesser extent high density polyethylene. Results-The cohort was young and was followed up for an average of 26 years. Although mortality for all causes among employees who worked at least one year at this facility was low (standardised mortality ratio (SMR) 074), the death rate from cancer was moderately higher than that of the general population (14 observed and 9 4 expected deaths). This study shows no increased colorectal cancer mortality as was found among another group of workers involved in the manufacture of polypropylene. (Occup Environ Med 1994;51:799-803)

Polystyrene Microspheres as a Specific Marker for the Diagnosis of Aspiration in Hamsters

“…The main use of styrene is in the production of polystyrene, foam materials, waxes, automobile tires, plastics, varnishes, and synthetic rubber products (9). Employees of polystyrene laboratories were found to have an increased incidence of pancreatic, colon, and lung cancer (10,11).…”

Case-series investigation of intracranial neoplasms at a petrochemical research facility

“…Although some of the projects on which the brain cancer cases were paired involved polypropylene catalysis research, there is no epidemiologic study suggesting that polypropylene itself or agents used in polypropylene research or manufacturing are neurocarcinogens for human beings. No brain cancer death (expected, < 0.5) was observed during 30 years of follow-up of workers at another facility conducting research on polypropylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene [Cowles et al, 1994]. Studies of workers in polypropylene manufacturing have reported fewer brain cancers than expected [Goldberg and Theriault, 1994;Cole et al, 1995].…”

Mortality among workers at a plastics manufacturing plant

“…However, epidemiological information on the human carcinogenicity of polyethylene is limited. Only one investigation of workers in the plastics industry has reported results pertaining to polyethylene workers, 2 but the subjects of this study also had many other occupational exposures.…”

“…[3][4][5][6][7] However, more recent studies have not provided consistent support for these associations. 2,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Butadiene has been classified as an animal carcinogen, 15 but epidemiological research has not found consistent evidence that people exposed to this chemical have an increased rate of cancer. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] A study of workers who used butadiene to make synthetic rubber reported a positive relation between cumulative exposure to butadiene and all leukaemias combined and essentially no association between butadiene and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.…”