General mortality from 1944 through 1994 for a silicon-based chemical company

The objective of this study is to reevaluate the statistically significant elevated risk of lung cancer among men with >or=20 years of employment at Dow Corning Corporation, a manufacturer of silicon-based materials. The cohort included 712 deaths among 8266 employees who were hired from 1943 to 1992 with follow-up through 1994. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were calculated for 63 causes of death. Analysis confirmed a statistically significant increased mortality from cancer of the bronchus, trachea, and lung among men, prior to 1985, who jointly classified with >or=30 years of work duration and >or=30 years since first employed. SMRs for lung cancer after 1985, however, were not statistically significant and were inconsistent across work duration and years since first employed intervals. The study provides no evidence for elevated mortality among Dow Corning workers since the 1991 cohort mortality study. This study describes the updated mortality experience of a large employee cohort from a major silicon-based manufacturer. It illustrates that a well-designed mortality study can be a key component of employee health surveillance efforts in an industrial setting with potential hazardous workplace exposures.