Risk of cancer among paper recycling workers.

Abstract

lymphomas,6 but no study has previously been undertaken to investigate the risk of cancer in the paper recycling industry. De-inking and recycling of paper will become an important industry in the future as paper consumption increases.7 As Denmark has an old paper recycling industry8 and a national compulsory cancer registration, we conducted a historical cohort study of incidence of cancer in Danish paper recycling plants. Materials and methods DESCRIPTION OF THE PAPER RECYCLING PLANTSFive Danish paper recycling plants were included. The oldest plant started production in 1956 and the newest in 1969. In three plants, paper waste was mixed with water, and slimicides, sizing agents, flocking chemicals, fillers, and other chemicals were added to the paper stock.Two plants used a de-inking process to remove printing ink from newspapers and magazines. In a flotation de-inking system, paper waste was dissolved in water, fatty acids and other compounds were added, and printing ink and impurities were separated by an air flow in a foam separator.The most common chemicals used in the

Systematic review of epidemiological studies on health effects associated with management of solid waste

“…In the study by Rix et al [ 60 ], 5377 employees of five paper recycling plants in Denmark between 1965 and 1990 were included in a historical cohort, and the expected number of cancer cases was calculated from national rates. The incidence of lung cancer was slightly higher among men in production and moderately higher in short term workers with less than 1 year of employment; there was significantly more pharyngeal cancer among males, but this may have been influenced by confounders such as smoking and alcohol intake.…”

A questão da responsabilidade socioambiental na reciclagem de plástico no Rio de Janeiro

“…A respeito da reciclagem de papel, pesquisas realizadas por Terasaki et al (2008) mostram que o efluente gerado no processo tem oito tipos de poluentes, em particular, aril-hidrocarbonetos, incluindo alguns cloretos de aril-éter até então não identificados como poluentes aquáticos, em concentrações de 1600 µg.l -1 e 190 µg.g -1 . Rix et al (1997) mostram a ocorrência de riscos de câncer nos trabalhadores desse mesmo segmento no caso da reciclagem de baterias. Paoliello e De Capitani (2007) verificaram que a legislação é inadequada, pois estabelece um nível de 60 µg/100 ml de chumbo no sangue (Índice Biológico Máximo Permissível -IBMP) como um limite seguro, enquanto a Conferência Americana da Indústria de Higiene Governamental (ACGIH) determina um limite mais baixo: 30 µg/100 ml de chumbo no sangue.…”