Mortality among workers exposed to ethylene oxide
Article Abstract:
A study conducted in Sweden found that industrial workers exposed to ethylene oxide suffer an increased incidence of stomach cancer and leukemia. Ethylene oxide is a highly reactive chemical used to sterilize medical equipment, pharmaceutical products, and some non-medical items such as spices. A major study was undertaken in the United States to evaluate the possible effects of ethylene oxide on 18,254 workers exposed in 14 plants during the course of their occupations. When deaths due to different causes in the entire study group were tabulated, no excess deaths were found compared with the general population. However, the men in the group had an increased rate of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and other cancers arising from blood cells. Similarly, when only young men in recent years were considered, an increase in the incidence of leukemia was found. These increases were statistically significant, but small. Curiously, the women in the group had rates of blood cancer which were actually lower than the rate of the US population as a whole. Although the study identified a link between occupational exposure to ethylene oxide and an increased incidence of some cancers of blood cells, the effect observed was small, and nothing compared with the effect reported by the Swedish research. The number of subjects in the present study was sufficiently large that any major effects of ethylene oxide on health would have been detected. However, more subtle effects, particularly those which might occur only slowly over long years of exposure, might not become evident in a study of this sort. Therefore, the effect of ethylene oxide on less common health risks must be considered still unknown. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: The New England Journal of Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0028-4793
Year: 1991
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Hepatic and gastrointestinal effects in an occupational cohort exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin
Article Abstract:
Workers exposed to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-para-dioxin (TCDD) may not have a higher risk of developing liver disease or gastrointestinal disease than individuals who are not exposed to TCDD. A study compared 281 workers who were exposed to TCDD at two chemical plants 15 years earlier to 260 individuals who had not been exposed to TCDD, but who matched individuals in the first group on other characteristics. Those exposed to TCDD did not report higher occurrences of liver disease or gastrointestinal disease compared to the individuals who were not exposed to TCDD. Exposed workers did have significantly higher levels of the enzyme gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) than unexposed individuals, but this occurred mainly in those workers who habitually drank alcohol. Among workers who drank, the risk of high blood levels of GGT increased as blood levels of TCDD increased. Elevated blood levels of GGT is often an indication of liver disease.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1992
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