Proportionate mortality among male corn wet-milling workers

Workers in the corn wet-milling industry are exposed to grain dusts, pesticides and fumigants, acids, solvents, sulphur dioxide, and other chemicals used in the manufacture of starch, oil, syrup, and dextrins. In a preliminary investigation of the long-term health effects of occupational exposures in this industry, deaths among active and retired corn wet-milling workers were identified from records of a trade union. Underlying cause of death for workers who died between 1947 and 1981 was determined from death certificates. Cause-specific Proportionate Mortality Ratios (PMR's) were computed for white and black males using US males as a comparison with adjustments for age, race, and calendar year of death. There were deficits of deaths from respiratory and digestive diseases. Among whites, mortality from chronic nephritis, bladder cancer, and lymphatic and haematopoietic malignancies was elevated. There was an elevated frequency of deaths due to diabetes and a threefold excess of pancreatic cancer deaths among blacks. Crude work history information indicated a small cluster of pancreatic cancer deaths among whites and blacks who had worked in production processes that convert corn starch to syrup and dextrins. An elevated frequency of deaths from leukaemia was seen among white maintenance workers.