Mortality due to respiratory cancers in the coke oven plants of the Lorraine coalmining industry (Houilleres du Bassin de Lorraine).

Abstract

The main activity of the Houilleres du Bassin de Lorraine (Lorraine Collieries), employing 23 000 operatives and executives, is coalmining. The coke production is carried out by two coke oven plants with a workforce of respectively 747 and 552 workers. The coal coking process entails the emission of noxious products such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) from the ovens. The influence of occupational exposure on mortality due to respiratory cancers, and particularly to lung and upper respiratory and alimentary tracts cancer, was investigated among a cohort of 534 male workers from the two coke oven plants who had retired from work between 1963 and 1982. The job history of each subject has been precisely reconstructed by indicating the duration of exposure on the ovens, close to the ovens, and in maintenance occupations. The cohort mortality has been analysed according to the method of indirect standardisation with reference to the French male population and by a case-control study concerning the consumption of tobacco per cohort. The mortality due to lung cancer is 2-51 times higher than expected. This excess of mortality differs, but not significantly, between the two coke oven plants (standardised mortality ratio equals 3 05 and 1-75 respectively). It is not significantly higher among subjects exposed for more than five years, directly exposed on the ovens or working near the ovens or at maintenance occupations on the ovens (SMR = 2-78), than among those exposed for less than five years (SMR = 2-35) or those not exposed at all. Even taking into account the excess of mortality due to lung cancers in the Moselle district (1 6 time that of France), the excess of lung cancers does not seem to be explained by the regional factor, or by tobacco and alcohol consumption. Although no significant relation was offered between lung cancer and the duration of exposure to PAH, even when taking smoking habits into account, the carcinogenic role of occupational nuisances cannot be excluded.

Biomarkers of exposure to combustion by-products in a human population in Shanxi, China

“…Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (USE-PA, 2006) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, 2004). Epidemiological studies on populations exposed to PAH mixtures have shown a link between these exposures, and cancers of the lung, respiratory system, and stomach (Bertrand et al, 1987;Puisieux et al, 1991;Krewski and Thomas, 1992;Vyskocil et al, 2004). Smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) have been shown to be associated with cancer in the lung, bronchus, larynx, bladder, cervix, and oral mucosa (Phillips, 1997;Lee et al, 2006;Yach and Wipfli, 2006).…”

Characteristics of Organic Carbon and Elemental Carbon in the Ambient Air of Coking Plant

“…The contaminants emitted during coking include inorganic compounds, heavy metals, OC, and EC (Tsai et al, 2007;Mu et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2013;Mu et al, 2013;Liu et al, 2014). Coke-plant workers are exposed to organic pollutants, leading to high lung cancer mortality (Redmond, 1983;Bertrand et al, 1987). In China's Shanxi province, OC and EC emissions from coking are second only to domestic coal emission and are much higher than those from biomass combustion, power plant and vehicle emissions (Cao et al, 2006).…”

Urinary metal and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon biomarkers in boilermakers exposed to metal fume and residual oil fly ash

“…We have shown that boilermakers are exposed to PAH and metals during the workweek, as indicated by repeated urinary sampling and measurement of 1-OHP and individual metal biomarkers of exposure. This is important because workers exposed to high levels of PAH, such as coke oven and aluminum industry workers, demonstrate an increased risk of cancer [IARC, 1983[IARC, , 1984[IARC, , 1985Bertrand et al, 1987;Verma et al, 1992]. Similarly, the carcinogenic potential of nickel and chromium has been well established for humans and experimental animals [IARC, 1990;Man, 1990;Hayes, 1997;Merzenich et al, 2001].…”