Cancer in radar technicians exposed to radiofrequency/microwave radiation: sentinel episodes.

Controversy exists concerning the health risks from exposures to radiofrequency/microwave irradiation (RF/MW). The authors report exposure-effect relationships in sentinel patients and their co-workers, who were technicians with high levels of exposure to RF/MW radiation. Information about exposures of patients with sentinel tumors was obtained from interviews, medical records, and technical sources. One patient was a member of a cohort of 25 workers with six tumors. The authors estimated relative risks for cancer in this group and latency periods for a larger group of self-reported individuals. Index patients with melanoma of the eye, testicular cancer, nasopharyngioma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and breast cancer were in the 20-37-year age group. Information about work conditions suggested prolonged exposures to high levels of RF/MW radiation that produced risks for the entire body. Clusters involved many different types of tumors. Latency periods were extremely brief in index patients and a larger self-reported group. The findings suggest that young persons exposed to high levels of RF/MW radiation for long periods in settings where preventive measures were lax were at increased risk for cancer. Very short latency periods suggest high risks from high-level exposures. Calculations derived from a linear model of dose-response suggest the need to prevent exposures in the range of 10-100 microw/cm(2).

Impact of new highways on road deaths: a case study in risk assessment.

Epidemiologists have generally avoided to assess risk for road deaths from high-speed highways. We examined the validity of the claim that the Trans-Israel Highway, a six-lane 320 km toll road with higher design speed, and raised speed limits (120 kph), will reduce road deaths. We used models showing that death tolls vary with the fourth power of rise in driving speed. Risk assessments was derived from estimates of increase in the highway-induced traffic, the impact of higher speed limits (from 110 to 120 kph) and the so-called spillover effect from speed habituation. We predict a large rise in the number of killed or injured, even if the death risks per vkm is low on the Highway itself. With the Trans-Israel Highway, death tolls--some 550 fatalities per year in 1995, could rise to as high as 900-1000 per year in 2010. Congestion produced by induced traffic will partially offset these effects. By contrast, death tolls from alternative strategies based on sustainable transportation policies could be reduced to less than 300 deaths per year. Risk assessment based on explicitly defined assumptions predicts high death tolls from the nationwide impact of raised speed on the Highway and its connecting roads. There is a need for new frameworks which impose the Code of Helsinki type requirements for the assessment and authorization of social decisions with adverse public health impacts.

Death and injury from motor vehicle crashes in Colombia.

We report data on the distribution and determinants of road deaths and injuries for all victims in Colombia, with the aim of defining targets and priorities for highway death prevention in that country and other rapidly urbanizing nations. Using information from Colombia's Fund for the Prevention of Road Injury and the national death registry, we studied data on deaths and injuries from 1991 to 1995 for the nation as a whole and for the country's two largest cities, Santa Fe de Bogotá and Medellín. Deaths and injuries are rising in the nation as a whole. Of the deaths, 75% occur in urban areas, and 80% are in males. Pedestrians aged 15-34 are a peak subgroup. Thirty-four percent of deaths are attributable to speeding and/or alcohol consumption. Death tolls are highest at night and on weekends. Specific priority targets for intervention are indicated by the fact that 75% of road deaths in Colombia occur in urban areas and that 80% of all victims are males.

Organochlorine insecticides and PCB residues in fat tissues of autopsied trauma victims in Israel: 1984 to 1986.

Between the 1950s and the 1970s, large quantities of organochlorines were used as insecticides in Israel's cowsheds, causing massive contamination of Israel's milk supply. In 32 of 40 autopsied Israeli trauma victims who died between 1984 to 1986, we found three or more types of organochlorines in adipose tissue, and at least one organochlorine residue in all 40 individuals. The cumulative mean organochlorine levels (ppm) in men and women were as follows: DDE = 5.73 and 4.36; DDT = 0.12 and 0.30; HCB = 0.31 and 0.11; beta-HCH = 0.53 and 0.43; PCB = 0.10 and 0.08, respectively. PCB residue levels in fat tissue were lower than those noted in other countries and below the adverse levels associated with health effects. The cumulative mean organochlorine levels in adipose tissue were higher in men than in women in all cases except for DDT. Mean levels for DDE + DDT combined was higher in older than younger people, and all persons' DDT/DDE ratios were less than 1. The DDE levels in adipose tissue were higher than the levels reported in many other countries during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Our findings suggest that population-wide exposures to organochlorine insecticides come not only from contaminated milk products but other food products as well. The amounts of organochlorines in adipose tissue are compatible with those found in food residue samples during the same period.

Cancer in thirty-nine nuclear industry workers: a preliminary report.

We constructed job-exposure profiles and assessed quality of health care in 39 of 47 current and former workers from a nuclear installation in the Negev whose files were referred to us for assessment of a possible work-related aspect of their tumors. The workers, all male except one, began employment at various times from the reactor construction and were engaged in different tasks in laboratory research, construction, maintenance, and service. Of those workers still living the average age was 57.9 years, with a range from 42 to 77 years of age. The average age at the time of death for the deceased workers was 57.3 years, with a range from 41 to 69 years of age, Information on past exposures to radiation and chemical agents came from employee records dosimetry, and interviews. Personal monitoring (urine assays) in 29 workers indicated the presence of various radionuclides, with higher levels found in persons with work histories in laboratory/research and development and technical/inspector job categories compared to those in administrative/service job categories. Among the 39 workers, latency between onset of exposure and first appearance of illness from tumor was 24.2 years, with a range of 5 to 34 years. Tumor distribution for these workers was as follows: hematolymphatic (n = 11 workers), gastrointestinal (n = 9), breast (n = 1 [male]), renal-urogenital (n = 8), skin (n = 1), and pulmonary (n = 8 [5 known smokers]). For all tumors except those of the respiratory tract, the first diagnosis was made more frequently in those patients under the age of 55. Observed/expected comparisons for tumor proportional incidence showed excess fractions of blood tumors in persons < 55 and > 55 years of age. Ratios were greater than unity for blood, breast (n = 1), gastrointestinal, and urogenital tumors in patients < 55 years of age and pulmonary tumors in persons > 55 years of age. The odds ratio for smoking history in patients with lung tumors compared to those with other tumors was 4.8. Nonmalignant conditions appeared at relatively younger ages. After the exposure episodes two children with major congenital anomalies were born to wives of the workers; one anomaly was fatal. Not all patients were first diagnosed for cancer following referral from the plant medical service, and delays between warning signs and symptoms and medical evaluation occurred in some. Although we lacked data on cancer incidence and population at risk, our findings suggest that earlier official assessments of risk should be reconsidered. There is a need for population-based monitoring of risk to nuclear industry workers, external quality control of their medical surveillance and care, and improvements in information delivery.