Sector: mining

Type of hazard: dangerous substances, work related diseases

Catchwords: carcinogenic substances, risk assessment, epidemiology

Status: completed 07/1997

Financed by: Bergbau-Berufsgenossenschaft

Research institution(s): Institut für Arbeitsphysiologie, Dortmund

Description, key words:

Case control study of the connection between trinitrotoluene (donarit) and cancer of the kidney

Aims:

A former industrial medical officer in a copper slate mining company noticed an increased occurrence in cases of kidney cancer in former underground copper slate miners exposed to commercial trinitrotoluene (donarit) in the course of his work as a general practitioner. Goal: investigating a possible occupational connection between exposure to commercial dinitrotoluene and the occurrence of kidney cell carcinomas

Activities/methods:

Creation of a total control group of 182 former miners exposed to donarit, of whom 14 are suffering from kidney tumours and 6 from bladder tumours (cluster); determining and dividing exposure into categories "low, medium, high, very high"; epidemiological statistics

Results:

Within the exposure categories there was no appreciable difference between the total control group and the kidney tumour control group; no significant increase in the frequency of malign kidney tumours in miners exposed to high levels of donarit, i.e. no indications of a mono-causal connection

last update: 19.07.2000