Mortality among production workers in pulp and paper mills.

Abstract

ROBINSON CF, WAXWEILER RJ, FOWLER DP. Mortality among production workers in pulp and paper mills. Scand J Work Environ Health 12 (1986) 552-560. A cohort of 3 572 pulp and paper mill workers employed for at least one year between 1945 and 1955 was followed through 31 March 1977. Vital status was determined for 99 % of the cohort. The 915 deaths observed were 79 0,70 of the number expected on the basis of comparable United States mortality rates. Statistically nonsignificant excesses of deaths due to lymphosarcoma and reticulosarcoma and to stomach cancer were observed. These findings tend to corroborate reports based on state vital statistics, and preliminary case-referent and populationbased studies of workers in the pulp or paper industries. No deaths due to nasal cancer were observed, but only 0.6 were expected. When process-specific analyses were conducted, the excess risk of lymphosarcoma and reticulosarcoma was increased only for men who worked in sulfate mills. The excess risk of stomach cancer was limited to men who worked in sulfite mills. Process-specific standardized mortality ratios for these causes were highest after 20 years since first employment in the mills.

Cancer incidence of workers in the Finnish pulp and paper industry.

“…Thi s result was in accordan ce with th ose of Robinson et a l (21). An increa sed risk for oral, pharyngeal , and laryn geal ca ncer has been previou sly reported among male paper workers (2,3,5).…”

“…Th ere have been reports (7,8,15,16,18) of an increased risk of Hod gkin's disease in the pulp and paper industry, as well as of an increased risk of lymphosar com a a nd ret icul osar coma among sulfite pulp mill wo rkers (21). In the present stu dy , there was no excess of lymphomas.…”

“…The standard o f living o f the work ers in the pulp and pape r industry has been increasing since the ea rly 1950s, but there is no ob viou s rea son for a difference bet ween the maintenan ce departm ent and the oth er subco hor ts in tha t respect. It should be noted that recentl y Rob inson et al (21) found an excess risk of stomach cancer among sulfite pulp mill workers in their mortality study. Milham & Demer s (17) also found an excess of stomac h cancer among pulp and paper workers in their proportionate mortalit y study.…”

“…In so me ea rlier studies there ha ve been findi ngs indicatin g an increased risk of lung ca ncer within the paper ind ust ry (1, 9, 14, 23), although there are a lso st udies showi ng no excess, or insig nificant excesses, of lun g cancer (6,17,21).…”

“…The workers were grouped into the following six subcohorts according to the work area: (i) sulfite mill, (ii) sulfate mill, (iii) paper mill, (iv) board mill, (v) maintenan ce department, and (vi) po wer plant. The six subcohorts are separate enti ties with characteristic exposures within the industry (10,11,21). There were slight modifications in the pro cesses, but basically pulp , paper and board were produced in the same way through the whole study period.…”