Cancer Mortality of a Group of Canadian Workers Exposed to Vinyl Chloride Monomer

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Abstract
The present study was undertaken to find out whether there was an excess of cancer mortality from causes other than angiosarcoma of the liver among a group of workers heavily exposed to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM). The mortality of 451 workers exposed to VCM for > 5 yr was compared with that of 870 workers from the same company who had not been exposed to VCM. The relative risk for digestive cancer was significantly higher than 1 (6.25, confidence interval 2.69-14.52) in the exposed group. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for digestive cancer was also higher (SMR 259.26 P < 0.01) than that of the general population. No other cancer was in excess. Since the exposed workers are known to have had a cigarette smoking experience similar to that of those who were not exposed, it is concluded that the association between lung cancer and VCM exposure, if present, is indeed rather small.

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