A mortality survey of employees engaged in the development or manufacture of styrene-based products.

The authors examined the mortality experience of employees whose work assignments involved development or production of styrene-based products. To investigate potential relationships between mortality and work exposure in the diverse chemical operations under study, a multiple agent approach to exposure categorization was adopted. Mortality was less than that of the corresponding U.S. white male population and was consistent with that of an industrial comparison group. Although deaths due to malignant neoplasms were fewer than expected for the total cohort, an increase in lymphatic leukemia was observed among a subgroup of employees who had exposure to polymer extrusion fumes, solvents, and colorants. However, no relationship was found with duration or intensity of exposures experiences by these employees, and the etiology of the lymphatic leukemias was not established. The approach used to characterize exposure in this study may have application in other epidemiologic investigations involving complex work environments.

Mortality experience of 161 employees exposed to ethylene dibromide in two production units.

Animal studies have indicated the carcinogenic potential of ethylene dibromide (EDB). Examination of the mortality experience of employees exposed to EDB in two production units operated from 1942 to 1969 and from the mid-1920s to 1976, respectively, showed that in the first unit two deaths from malignant neoplasms were observed against 3.6 expected (based on US white male mortality), and in the second unit, where there was potential exposure to various organic bromide products, five deaths from malignant neoplasms (2.2 expected) were observed. Findings of this investigation neither rule out nor establish EDB to be a human carcinogen. Far fewer malignant neoplasms, however, have been observed than might have been expected from a direct extrapolation of data obtained from experiments on animals.

Linking industrial hygiene and health records.

This report presents methodology used in a large chemical company for linking historical industrial hygiene sampling data and employee health data through the personnel record system. The problems encountered are described to alert investigators to the need for careful planning of systems for linking the three data bases.