Consistencies and inconsistencies underlying the quantitative assessment of leukemia risk from benzene exposure

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1989 · Environmental Health Perspectives; (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.8982289· OSTI ID:7059464

Lamm, S H; Walters, A S ^[1]; Wilson, R ^[2]; Byrd, D M ^[3]; Grunwald, H ^[4]

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1. Consultants in Epidemiology and Occupational Health, Inc., Washington, DC (USA)
2. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (USA)
3. Consulting Toxicologist, Falls Church, VA (USA)
4. Queens Hospital Center Affiliation of Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Jamaica, NY (USA)

This paper examines recent risk assessments for benzene and observes a number of inconsistencies within the study and consistencies between studies that should effect the quantitative determination of the risk from benzene exposure. Comparisons across studies show that only acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is found to be consistently in excess with significant benzene exposure. The data from the Pliofilm study that forms the basis of most quantitative assessments reveal that all the AML cases came from only one of the three studied plants and that all the benzene exposure data came from the other plants. Hematological data from the 1940s from the plant from which almost all of the industrial hygiene exposure data come do not correlate well with the originally published exposure estimates but do correlate well with an alternative set of exposure estimates that are much greater than those estimates originally published. Temporal relationships within the study are not consistent with those of other studies. The dose-response relationship is strongly nonlinear. Other data suggest that the leukemogenic effect of benzene is nonlinear and may derive from a threshold toxicity.

• OSTI ID: 7059464
• Journal Information: Environmental Health Perspectives; (USA), Vol. 82; ISSN 0091-6765
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BENZENE
CHRONIC EXPOSURE
DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIPS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
LEUKEMIA
RISK ASSESSMENT
CARCINOGENESIS
STATISTICS
AROMATICS
DISEASES
HEMIC DISEASES
HYDROCARBONS
IMMUNE SYSTEM DISEASES
MATHEMATICS
NEOPLASMS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PATHOGENESIS
560300* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology