Cancer mortality of a group of Canadian workers exposed to vinyl chloride monomer

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 more than five years 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 to 14.52) in the exposed group. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for digestive cancer was also higher (SMR 259.26 p less than 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.