MORTALITY DUE TO BRONCHOPULMONARY CANCER IN WORKERS IN 2 FOUNDRIES

A mortality study was carried out in two factories producing stainless steel in order to assess lung cancer risk among workers employed in c oke oven, blast and open hearth furnaces, foundry, electric furnace, h ot and cold rolling mills and pickling areas. Occupational exposures o f interest were chromium compounds, nickel compounds, polycyclic aroma tic hydrocarbons (PAH) silica and asbestos. All male workers having at least one year of employment between 01.01.1960 and 31.12.1990 were f ollowed up for mortality. The vital status was assessed from birth pla ce registries. Complete job histories since date of first employment w ere abstracted from the company files. The smoking habits of 50 % of t he cohort members were known from medical records. The observed number of deaths (obs) were compared with the expected ones based on regiona l rates with adjustment far age, sex and calendar time (Standardized M ortality Ratio, SMR). The cohorts included 6324 (factory I) and 5270 ( factory 2) workers. The overall mortality did not differ markedly from that expected in both factories: SMR = 0.95 (obs = 1540, p = 0.05) in factory I and SMR = 1.06 (obs = 916, non-significant) in factory 2. S MRs for lung cancer did not differ from unity, respectively 0.99 (obs = 105) and 1.00 (obs = 54), in whole cohorts. Non-significant lung can cer excesses were observed among workers of some workshops where expos ures of interest might have occurred: coke oven (SMR = 2.04), blast fu rnace (SMR = 1.36), open hearth furnace (SMR = 1.75), hot rolling mill s (SMR = 1.29). These processes, however, are no longer involved in th e study factories. Furthermore, no lung cancer excess was observed amo ng workers employed in current workshops: electric furnaces and cold r olling mills.