Bladder Cancer with Exposure to Benzidine-based Dyes of Dyer / 대한산업의학회지

This is the first report on an occupational bladder cancer in Korea. The ease is 41 years old man who worked as a dyer for 17 years at two dyeing factories, which handled nylon and polyester fabrics in Taegu. He was exposed to many kinds of dyes during weighing, mixing, dissolving and dyeing processes. Among many kinds of acid, disperse and direct dyes that he has been exposed to, several dyes have confirmed to contain benzidine-based dyes, one was o-tolidine-based dye, and one was o-dianisidine-based dye. He visited a hospital due to the gross hematuria and urinary frequency in June, 1998, and he had radical cystectomy with ileal conduit diversion. He had smoked a half-pack of cigarette for 20 years. The main risk factor of bladder cancer is smoking, however, he was relatively a light smoker than usual Korean men. He was exposed to the definite occupational carcinogen even though the level was relatively lower than that of dye manufacturers. His age was younger than the prevalence age of bladder cancer caused by smoking. These evidences support that the dyer' s bladder cancer could be related to the occupational exposure to benzidine-based dyes.

Benzidine Exposure Among Benzidine-based Dye Manufacturing Workers / 대한산업의학회지

To evaluate,the differences of benzidine exposure patterns of the workers in two benzidine-based dye manufacturing factories, the concentration of benzidine: in. air, blood, and urine were measured. The air levels of benzidine dihydrochloride and benzidine-based dye were measured by high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detector. Blood samples were collected at 3 hours after exposure and urine samples were collected at the end of shift. Blood and urine samples were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detector. The level of benzidine in reaction process (input, diazotization, and coupling); was 0.381+/-7950 g/m3. The blood benzidine was deteced in 25 workers among 38 in reaction process and their mean levels were 0.0153?0376 ng/mg Hb. The urinary benzidine was detected for 11 workers among 38 workers in the reaction process. The level of benzidine-based dye in drying and packing process was 52.1748+/-4.4111g/m3. The blood benzidine was deteced in 6 workers among 38 in drying and packing process and their mean levels was 0.0062+/-0274 ng/mg Hb. The urinary benzidine was detected for 1 worker among 38 workers exposed to benzidine-based dye. The blood and urinary benzidine were detected in workers exposed to benzidine-based dye. Such results suggested that some part of benzidine-based dye was metaboized to benzidine. Therefore, some regulations for manufacturing and use of the benzidine-based dye are needed to prevent its hazards in industries.