TABLE 4 : Classification of Occupational Carciogens

ORGANIC AGENTS

a. Aromatic hydrocarbons

Coal soot, coal tar, other products of coal combustion

Lung, larynx, skin, scrotum, urinary bladder

9-23

2-6

Gashouse workers, stokers, and producers; asphalt, coal tar, and pitch workers; coke-oven workers; miners; still cleaners; chimney sweeps

Petroleum, petroleum coke, wax, creosote, anthracene, paraffin, shale, mineral oils

Nasal cavity, larynx, lung, skin, scrotum

12-30

2-4

Contact with lubricating, cooling, paraffin or wax; fuel oils, or coke; rubber fillers, retort men, textile weavers, diesel jet testers

Benzene

Bone marrow (leukemia)

6-14

2-3

Explosives; benzene, or rubber cement workers, distillers, dye users, painters, shoemakers

Aura mine, benzidine,
naphthylamine, naphthylamine, magenta, 4-aminodiphenyl,
4-nitrodiphenyl

Urinary bladder

13-30

2-90

Dyestuffs manufacturers and users; rubber workers (pressmen, filter men, labourers); textile dyers; paint manufactures

b. Alkylating agents

Mustard gas

Larynx, lung trachea, bronchi

10-25

2-36

Mustard gas workers

c. Others

Isopropyl oil

Nasal cavity

10+

21

Producers

Vinyl chloride

Liver (angiosarcoma), brain

20-30

200 (liver)

4 brain

Plastic workers

Bis (chloromethyl) ether, chloromethyl methyl ether

Lung (oat cell carcinoma)

5+

7-45

Chemical workers

INORGANIC AGENTS

a. Metals

Arsenic

Skin, lung, liver

10+

3-8

Miners, smelters, insecticide makers and sprayers, tanners, chemical workers, oil refineries, vintners

Chromium

Nasal cavity sinuses

15-25

3-40

Producers, processors, and users; acetylene and aniline workers; bleachers, glass, pottery, and linoleum workers; battery makers

Iron oxide

Lung, larynx

__

2-5

Iron ore (hematite) miners, metal grinders and publishers; silver finishers; iron foundry workers

Nickel

Nasal sinuses, lung

3-30

5-10 (lung) 100-(nasal sinuses)

Nickel smelters, mixers, and roasters; electrolysis workers

b. Fiber

Asbestos

Lung, pleural and peritoneal meso-thelioma

4-50

1.5-12

Miners, millers, textile insulation, and shipyard workers

c. Dusts

Wood

Nasal cavity and sinuses

30-40

_

Woodworkers

Leather

Nasal cavity and sinuses, urinary bladder

40-50

50 (nasal sinuses) 2.5 (bladder)

Leather and shoe workers

PHYSICAL AGENTS

a. Non ionizing radiation

Ultraviolet rays

Skin

Varies with skin pigment and texture

_

Farmers; sailors

b. Ionizing radiation

X-Rays

Skin, bone marrow (leukemia)

10-25

3-9

Radiologists; medical personnel

Uranium, radon, radium,mesothorium

Skin, lung, bone, marrow (leukemia)

10-15

3-10

Radiologists; miners; radium dial painters; radium chemists

c. Other

Hypoxia

Bone

__

__

Caisson workers

Source. Cole and Godman (1975)