CANCER MORTALITY AMONG WOMEN EMPLOYED IN MOTOR-VEHICLE MANUFACTURING

This article summarizes published data on employment and cancer patter ns in the motor vehicle manufacturing (MVM) industry and presents resu lts from a new study of female MVM workers. Historically, female MVM e mployees worked primarily in aerospace; electric and electronic equipm ent manufacturing; and paint, plastic, and trim operations. Women are now moving into vehicle assembly and metal parts production. Investiga tions of cancer have focused on men and reported excesses of lung canc er in foundry operations, of gastrointestinal cancer in metal processi ng operations involving exposure to machining fluids, and of colorecta l cancer in wood pattern making. Numbers of women were insufficient fo r a meaningful evaluation of their cancer patterns. A recent study fou nd that white women employed at a MVM company, compared to the female general US population, had small excesses of lung cancer (standardized mortality ratio (SMR) = 1.26; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.96-1.6 3) and of colorectal cancer (SMR = 1.27, 95% CI = 0.87-1.78) and a def icit of breast cancer (SMR = 0.68, 95% CI = 0.48-0.92). The lung cance r increase was concentrated among women in assembly jobs (SMR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.07-2.26); the colorectal cancer increase, among women in no nproduction jobs (SMR = 1.78, 95% CI = 0.97-2.98); and the breast canc er deficit, among women in production-related jobs (SMR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.37-0.91). Further investigation is needed to determine if these p atterns are due to the occupational environment and to clarify causes of cancer among women in the MVM industry.