Author/Editor		Boffetta, Paolo; Garcia-Gomez, Monserrat; Pompe-Kirn, Vera; Zaridze, David; Bellander, Tom; Bulbulyan, Mariana; Caballero, Jose Diego; Ceccarelli, Franco; Colin, Didier; Dizdarevič, Tatjana; Espanol, Santiago; Kobal, Alfred
Title		Cancer occurrence among European mercury miners
Type		članek
Source		Cancer Causes Control
Vol. and No.		Letnik 9, št. 6
Publication year		1998
Volume		str. 591-9
Language		eng
Abstract		Objectives. To study the carcinogenicity of inorganic mercury in humans. Methods. We studied the mortality from cancer among 6784 male and 265 female workers of four mercury mines and mills in Spain , Slovenia, Italy and the Ukraine. Workers were employed between the beginning of the century and 1990; the follow-up period lasted from the 19502 to the 1990s. We compared the mortality of the workers with national reference rates. Results. Among men, there was no overall excess cancer mortality; an increase was obserwed in mortality from lung cancer (standardized mortality ratio (SMR) 1.19, 95 percent confidence interval (CI) 1.03-1.38) and liver cancer (SMR 1.64, CI 1.18-2.22). The increase in ung cancer risk was restricted to workers from Slovenia and the Ukraine: no relationship was found with duration of employment or estimated mercury exposure. The increase in liver cancer risk was present both among miners and mellers and was stronger in workers from Italy and Slovenia: there was a trend with estimated cumulative exposure but not with duration of employment, and the excess was not present in a parallel analysis of cancer incidence among workers from Slovenia. No increase was observed for other types of cancer, including brain and kidney tumors. Among female workers (Ukraine only), three deaths occurred from ovarian cancer, likely representing an excess.Conclusions: Exposure to inorganic mercury in mines amd mills does not seem strongly associated with cancer risk, with the possible exception of liver cancer; the increase in lung cancer may be explained by co-exposure to crystalline silica and radon.
Descriptors		NEOPLASMS MINING MERCURY COMPOUNDS OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE RISK FACTORS SLOVENIA ITALY SPAIN UKRAINE