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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) testimony to DOL (Department of Labor) on benzene and leukemia: An epidemiologic risk assessment to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration by J. D. Millar, August 9, 1985

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:7189289

In the testimony, the mortality experience of a cohort with occupational exposure to benzene (71432) was updated to learn more about a possible connection to leukemia. Job/exposure matrices were used to derive cumulative exposure concentrations. The matrices were based on available air sampling data. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for leukemia was 328 and the SMR for multiple myeloma was 298. SMRs for leukemia increased from 105 in workers with less than 40 part per million years (ppm/y) cumulative exposure to 314 in workers with from 40 to 199.99 ppm/y; to 1,757 in those with from 200 to 399.99 ppm/y; and to 4,535 in those with 400 ppm/y or more. A 40-year working lifetime exposure at 10 parts per million was equivalent to a cumulative benzene exposure of 400 ppm/y. When the boundaries of the exposure categories were varied, this strongly positive trend in SMRs remained evident. A conditional logistic regression was performed to examine the shape of the exposure/response relation. A log linear model best explained the association between cumulative benzene exposure and leukemia. It was calculated from the model that protection against benzene induced leukemia will be increased exponentially by any reduction in the permissible exposure limit.

Research Organization:
National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH (USA)
OSTI ID:
7189289
Report Number(s):
PB-90-153776/XAB
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English