Pilot survey of urinary porphyrins from persons transiently exposed to a PCB transformer fire

An epidemiologic study of cancer and other causes of mortality in San Francisco firefighters

To test the hypothesis that firefighter exposures may increase cancer risk, mortality rates were calculated for 3,066 San Francisco Fire Department firefighters employed between 1940 and 1970. Vital status was ascertained through 1982, and observed and expected rates, rate ratios (RR), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed using United States death rates for comparison. The total number deceased (1,186) was less than expected and there were fewer cancer deaths than expected. However, there were significant excess numbers of deaths from esophageal cancer (12 observed, 6 expected), cirrhosis and other liver diseases (59 observed, 26 expected), and accidental falls (21 observed, 11 expected). There were 24 line-of-duty deaths, which were primarily due to vehicular injury, falls, and asphyxiation. Heart disease and respiratory disease deaths occurred significantly less often than expected. It was concluded that the increased risks of death from esophageal cancer and cirrhosis and other liver diseases may have been due to firefighter exposures, alcohol consumption, or interaction between alcohol and exposures. Because this was an older cohort and firefighter exposures have changed due to the increasing use of synthetic materials, it is recommended that the effects of modern-day exposures be further studied.

Health effects three years after potential exposure to the toxic contaminants of an electrical transformer fire

A medical surveillance program has been established for 482 persons who were potentially exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dibenzo-p-dioxins, and dibenzofurans from an electrical transformer fire in a Binghamton, NY office building in 1981. Vital Record and Cancer Registry data, medical records, and mail questionnaires were used to assess mortality, symptomatology, cancer incidence, and reproductive events through 1984. The numbers of deaths, cancers, fetal deaths, and infants with low birth weight or congenital malformations were similar to those expected on the basis of age- and sex-specific rates for upstate New York and other comparison populations. Two suicides were observed compared with 0.31 expected, but the difference was not statistically significant. After adjustment for possible confounders, persons with the greatest degree of potential exposure were significantly more likely than those with less exposure to report unexplained weight loss (relative risk [RR] = 12.80), muscle pain (RR = 5.07), frequent coughing (RR = 4.14), skin color changes (RR = 3.49), and nervousness or sleep problems (RR = 3.19). The possibility of recall bias and the intervening effects of stress, however, weaken the conclusion that toxic chemicals caused the symptomatology. Exposure-related systemic disorders, e.g., chloracne or peripheral neuropathy, were not diagnosed by personal physicians; however, some persons refused to release their medical records because of ongoing litigation. The findings are consistent with those of our earlier assessment.