EXPOSURES IN THE ALUMINA AND PRIMARY ALUMINUM-INDUSTRY - AN HISTORICAL REVIEW

We reviewed specific chemical exposures and exposure assessment method s relating to published and unpublished epidemiological studies in the alumina and primary aluminium industry. Our focus was to review limit ations in the current literature and make recommendations for future r esearch. Although some of the exposures in the smelting of aluminium h ave been well characterised, particularly in potrooms, little has been published regarding the exposures in bauxite mining and alumina refin ing. Past epidemiological studies in the industry hale concentrated on the smelting of aluminium, with many Limitations in the methodology u sed in their exposure assessment. We found that in aluminium smelting, exposures to fluorides, coal tar pitch volatiles (CTPV) and sulfur di oxide (SO2) have tended to decrease in recent Sears, but insufficient information exists for the other known exposures, Although excess canc ers have been found among workers in the smelting of aluminium, the ex posure assessment methods in future studies need to be improved to bet ter characterise possible causative agents, The small number of cohort studies has been a factor in the failure to identify clear exposure-r esponse relationships for respiratory diseases. A dose-response relati onship has been recently described for fluoride exposure and bronchial hyper-responsiveness, but whether fluorides are the causative agent, co-agent or simply markers for the causative agent(s) for potroom asth ma, remains to be determined. Published epidemiological studies and qu antitative exposure data for bauxite mining and alumina refining are v irtually non-existent. Determination of possible exposure-response rel ationships for this part of the industry through improved exposure ass essment methods should be the focus of future studies. (C) 1998 Britis h Occupational Hygiene Society. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.