Proportionate mortality study of workers in the grain industry

The proportionate mortality experience and proportionate cancer mortality experience were examined for 1,114 white male members of the American Federation of Grain Millers' life insurance plan. Mortality was significantly elevated for accidents and cancers of the lymphatic and hematopoietic systems, particularly from lymphosarcoma and reticulum cell sarcoma, other neoplasms of lymphoid tissue (i.e., giant follicular lymphoma and other primary malignant neoplasms of lymphoid tissue), and multiple myeloma. No increased mortality was seen for cancer of the respiratory tract, and nonmalignant diseases of the digestive tract were significantly lower than expected. Employees of grain mills showed higher mortality ratios of lymphatic and hematopoietic cancers as compared to other grain industry categories. A preliminary survey of pesticide usage suggested that grain mills were generally associated with greater use of pesticides than other industrial categories with considerable variation among the many facilities encompassed in this study.