Gm. Liss et Ss. Guirguis, FOLLOW-UP OF A GROUP OF WORKERS INTOXICATED WITH 4,4'-METHYLENEDIANILINE, American journal of industrial medicine, 26(1), 1994, pp. 117-124
4,4'-Methylenedianiline (MDA), an aromatic amine, is a known human hep
atotoxin and an animal carcinogen but there is little information rega
rding its chronic effects in humans. Between 1967 and 1976, 10 workers
at a plant in Ontario that used MDA as an epoxy hardener developed ac
ute jaundice. We followed this group from the date of intoxication thr
ough to the end of 1991 for cancer incidence by matching with the Onta
rio Cancer Registry. To date, one cancer, a pathologically confirmed b
ladder cancer has developed (expected number based on provincial incid
ence rates: 0.64 for all cancers, 0.05 for bladder cancer). This findi
ng may be important because bladder cancer was a site of interest a pr
iori; bladder cancers have been observed in two other occupationally e
xposed groups (significantly higher than expected in one of these); in
the National Toxicology Program bioassay, urinary bladder tumors occu
rred in exposed animals but not in controls; and MDA has structural si
milarity to known human bladder carcinogens such as benzidine. (C) 199
4 Wiley-Liss, Inc.