=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #273
—February 19, 1992—
News and resources for environmental justice.
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TO UNDERSTAND WHETHER CHEMICALS
ARE DANGEROUS, ASK WHAT CHEMISTS DIE OF
It has become fashionable to claim that modern synthetic
chemicals pose little or no harm to humans. We hear it from
learned scholars like Dr. Bruce Ames at Berkeley, [1] and from
others less-well-known. Their message is consistent: they say
naturally-occurring chemicals, such as peanut butter, are more
dangerous to humans than are the billions of tons of toxic
chemicals being discharged into the environment each year by Dow,
DuPont, Monsanto, Union Carbide and their competitors in the
chemical industry.
The arguments are highly technical and obscure. Does damage to a
laboratory mouse from a high dose mean there’s danger to a human
from a low dose? Should chemicals be evaluated one-at-a-time, or
the way people actually encounter them, which is in combination?
The average person has trouble understanding such debates.
However, there does seem to be one question we can ask that will
help us understand whether chemicals pose a hazard to humans: we
can ask, what do chemists die of? In 1969 a study [2] of the
causes of death among 3637 members of the American Chemical
Society (ACS) who died 1948-1967 revealed that chemists die at
unusually high rates from cancer of the pancreas, and cancers of
the lymph system (malignant lymphomas). This study also provided
the first evidence that chemists tend to commit suicide. Female
chemists (of which there were only 115 out of the 3637 ACS
members studied) had an elevated risk of breast cancer. The study
revealed an excessive number of deaths among young male chemists
(aged 20 to 64) compared to non-chemist professionals of the same
age (444 deaths observed, 354 expected) and 41 of the 90 excess
deaths were from pancreatic cancer. Chemists older than 65 had
unusually high rates of malignant lymphoma and pancreatic cancer
but also leukemias (cancers of the blood-forming cells).
A series of reports in the 1970s confirmed that Swedish chemists
die from malignant lymphomas and blood-related cancers, but also
from brain tumors. [3] A brief report also revealed that British
chemists tend to suffer from elevated levels of malignant
lymphomas. [4] This British study, of death certificates of 1332
members of the Royal Institute of Chemistry who died during
1965-1975 inclusive, revealed a higher-than expected proportion
of cancers, with an excess of lymphomas predominating.
An interesting sidelight of these studies was the revelation that
chemists tend to commit suicide at rates that exceed the national
average. A study [5] of 347 white female members of ACS who died
between 1925 and 1979 revealed increases in cancer of the breast,
ovary, stomach, pancreas and lymphatic and hematopoietic
[blood-forming] system. Suicide was 5 times as prevalent among
female chemists as among all U.S. white females.
A study [6] of 3686 male chemists who worked for DuPont and who
died during the period 1964-1977 revealed excessive risk of
cancer of the colon (large intestine), skin (melanoma) and
prostate. The overall cancer rate for these chemists was below
the U.S. average for white males, as you would expect because
chemists are generally well-off, and sick people generally aren’t
employed–a phenomenon known as the “healthy worker effect,” and
the reason workers are almost always found to have fewer ailments
than the general public. Notably, the 75 female chemists at
DuPont had greater-than-expected mortality for all causes
combined and for suicide.
Subsequent study [7] of these same DuPont workers showed a slight
increase in disability claims for mental disorders (neuroses,
depression, and alcoholism), compared to non-chemists; it is
perhaps noteworthy that chemists in DuPont’s chemical
research-and-development department had a three-fold increase in
disability claims for mental disorders. This study also revealed
an excessive suicide rate among chemists no longer actively
employed by DuPont.
A study [8] of employees of a large pharmaceutical company [826
white production employees and 249 white male sales staff] who
died between 1954 and 1976 revealed an increase in the occurrence
of several kinds of cancer (lung, skin [melanoma] and brain among
males, and leukemia, breast and large intestine among females)
among production workers as well as a statistically increased
rate of suicide in both male and female production workers.
Why do chemists commit suicide more than other people? No one
knows. Perhaps it is merely because they have easy access to
deadly chemicals and take advantage of that fact. Perhaps contact
with chemicals tends to degrade their mental stability. Perhaps
it is because they get more cancer than people in other
occupations and, being particularly well-educated, they know what
the future holds for someone diagnosed with cancer.
Whatever the reason, there seems to be little doubt that chemists
tend to commit suicide, and to get cancer, more than other
professionals, and more than the general public.
A recent study [9] of Exxon employees reveals an increased risk of
leukemia and lymphatic cancers among scientists, engineers and
research technicians, compared to Exxon managerial employees who
had the least potential for chemical exposure in the workplace.
A study [10] of 644 male employees who worked for at least one
month during the period 1942-1979 in a Swedish chemical factory
found a statistically significant increase in malignant lymphoma
and myelomatosis (multiple myeloma) and a smaller increase in
bronchial cancer.
A study [11] of 8171 Dow Chemical employees found a healthy worker
effect but also found significant increases in cancers
(unspecified) among plant mechanics, machinists, machine
repairmen, welders, and organic chemical production personnel.
There seems to be little doubt that working with chemicals
creates a risk of cancer, even among those people who are
well-educated, who presumably have a healthy respect for the
hazards of their workplace, and whose employers are wealthy
companies that can afford to take every precaution against
excessive exposure.
                
                
                
                
    
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
===============
[1] Bruce Ames and others, “Ranking Possible Carcinogenic
Hazards,” SCIENCE Vol. 236 (April 17, 1987), pgs. 236-271.
Descriptor terms: chemists; acs; chemists death; malignant
lymphoma; pancreatic cancer; cancer; suicide; dow chemical;
carcinogens; occupational safety and health;