[Oil mist exposure in industrial health--a review]

Many reports dealing with the toxicity of oil mist in industrial health have been published. The condition appears to be worldwide in distribution and the number of reported cases increases with increasing clinical awareness. In 158 reports published from 1965 to 1993 the following diseases were observed: Skin--contact dermatitis, oil acne and photosensitive allergic dermatitis; Scrotum--benign and malignant tumors; Respiratory system-nasal discomfort symptoms, rhinitis, nasal mucosal dysplasia, nasal mucosal tumor, laryngeal cancer, bronchitis, lipoid pneumonia, lung fibrosis, lung cancer and bronchial asthma; Others--possible carcinogenicity, high incidence of chromosomal change. This shows that oil mist appears to be involved in many industrial diseases, however, cause-and-effect relationship still remains a matter of conjecture; in which exposure dose and/or duration-dependent toxicity is highly probable. Further investigations will be required including immunotoxicological as well as environmental studies for oil mist exposure.