A smoking cessation incentive program for chemical employees: design and evaluation.

Worksite smoking cessation intervention programs have become increasingly popular, although program evaluations are often unavailable. In 1984, the Texas Operations of Dow Chemical USA offered a Smoking Cessation Incentive Program (SCIP) to its employees. SCIP was a highly publicized, upbeat program that had the active support of management and union. Altogether, 7,516 employees (95.4% of all employees) were surveyed about their smoking habits; 28.3% identified themselves as smokers. A total of 1,113 employees voluntarily enrolled in SCIP from March 1, 1984, through March 1, 1985. Smoking cessation methods included a buddy program, nicotine-containing chewing gum, American Lung Association self-help material and group clinics, and incentive prizes. SCIP registrants, compared to employees identified as smokers in a pre-program survey who did not participate in SCIP, were significantly (P less than .01) more often females, whites, administrators, professionals, heavier smokers, and smokers who had tried to quit at least two times prior to SCIP. There were 326 (29.3%) SCIP participants who quit smoking for at least one month during SCIP. A total of 265 (23.8%) succeeded at quitting for at least six months and remained ex-smokers at the end of the program. Logistic regression analysis showed administrators had significantly higher six-month or more rates of quitting than did professionals, craftsmen, operators or clerical workers.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Nested case-control study of lung cancer among chemical workers.

A recent cohort mortality study of 19,608 male employees of a major Texas chemical production facility had suggested that they might be at higher risk of lung cancer compared with the male population of the United States or Texas but not with the male population of the five-county area in which they reside. An occupational exposure was a possible explanation for this pattern, and a nested case-control study was undertaken of the 308 lung cancer deaths observed between 1940 and 1981. Two control groups, one a decedent and the other a "living" series, were individually matched to cases one-for-one. Interviews were conducted with subjects or their next of kin to collect information on smoking and other potential confounders. These data were combined with employee work history records and industrial hygiene data to form the basis of the analyses. Traditional stratification methods and conditional logistic regression were employed to examine for effect modification and to control confounding. Statistically significant, positive and negative associations were found for assignment to several work areas within the facility. Suggestive associations were observed for exposure to sulfur dioxide and heat. These and additional associations are discussed relative to evidence from other studies.

Mortality among a large cohort of chemical manufacturing employees.

Cause-specific mortality was surveyed among 19,608 male employees with 1 or more years of service between 1940 and 1980 at the Texas Operations of Dow Chemical U.S.A. Vital status was ascertained through 1980 for 97.3% of the cohort members, and death certificates were obtained for 96.4% of the 3,444 decedents. Mortality risks were found to vary, depending upon which of 3 population groups (United States, Texas, and local counties) was used for comparison, although significantly fewer than expected deaths from all causes was a common finding due to significant deficits in diabetes, diseases of the circulatory system, and cirrhosis of the liver. Significantly more deaths were from ill-defined conditions and cancers of unspecified sites. Lung cancer was significantly elevated in comparisons with the incidences in the United States and Texas, but not in comparison with those in the local counties. The influence of age at hire, period of hire, duration of employment, interval since entry into cohort, employment status, and two measures of social class--educational level and job category--were explored with the use of the Mantel-Haenszel method as adapted for a cohort study. Findings from these analyses are discussed in relation to the observations of other investigators and in the context of the possible impact of these findings on future studies of this work force.

A case-control study of renal cancer mortality at a Texas chemical plant.

An in-plant case-control study of 26 renal cancer deaths was conducted to determine whether an occupational exposure may be related to an apparent increase in mortality from this disease observed among a sample of employees at a multiple process chemical production facility. None was found that explained the excess. Elevated odds ratios were identified for employment in the cell maintenance area of chlorine production and with those presumptive exposures considered to occur in this job, asbestos and caustic, but not chlorine. While an association between renal cancer and asbestos has been previously reported, an association with caustic, per se, is not consistent with prior observations made by others. Diminished risk estimates were observed for employment in magnesium production and for exposures in this process to sulfur dioxide and heat. Both the increased and decreased risks, while statistically significant, are based on small numbers of exposed subjects and may be spurious owing to the problem of multiple comparisons.

An investigation of brain tumors among chemical plant employees using a sample-based cohort method.

Using a modification of the traditional cohort mortality methodology, risk estimates of death due to brain tumors were calculated for production and nonproduction employees of Dow Chemical U.S.A., Texas Division. A total of 25 malignant, benign and unspecified brain tumors were identified using a geographically limited record-linkage process. Expected deaths were extrapolated from 1,666 white males in a 5% sample of the 1940 through 1977 total workforce. The resulting sample-based standardized mortality ratios (which were not evaluated for statistical significance) suggest, at most, only a slight increased risk of mortality from brain tumors for the overall time period. There was, however, a probable elevated risk associated with first employment prior to 1945. To date, diminished risk has been noted for those hired during subsequent years.

Case-control study of brain tumor deaths among employees at a chemical manufacturing plant.

Recent studies have reported an increased risk of death from primary intracranial neoplasms among employees in the petrochemical industry. One of them, a NIOSH/OSHA county-based case-control study, suggested a twofold risk for having ever been employed at the Texas Division of Dow Chemical U.S.A. Using the case-control approach, we compared 24 brain tumor cases among employees at this large, diverse chemical plant in Texas with two sets of age-, race-, and sex-matched controls to determine if a risk could be associated with job assignment in a particular process area, with presumptive exposure to a major process chemical, or with a number of other occupationally related and unrelated variables. Results implicated no specific area or chemical. The only significant findings were an elevated odds for being hired prior to 1950 and a negative correlation with employment greater than 10 years. Further, preliminary calculations of expected deaths from primary intracranial neoplasms among the employee cohort suggested there was no excessive risk.

An effective hearing conservation program.

In a major chemical producing complex, noise problems of all kinds are encountered. One complex of The Dow Chemical Company, the Michigan Division, has approached this problem by setting up a Hearing Conservation Committee consisting of various disciplines: Safety, Industrial Hygiene, Medical, Engineering, and Production. This committee reviews each plant's Hearing Conservation Program bi-annually until all equivalent exposure ratios are less than one. Audiometric data is entered on a computer for rapid evaluation of periodic audiograms.

Effects of chronic occupational exposure to measured concentrations of benzene.

All ten employees have a history of exposure to benzene which exceeded a 25 ppm, eight-hour TWA for several years. For five of these employees this exposure level started over 20 years ago. One employee's high exposure level started over 35 years ago. All ten employees had their initial high exposure to benzene more than 16 years ago. At one period (late 1963 and early 1964) all ten employees had alterations in their peripheral blood studies, evidenced by an increase in MCV. Some of the employees had slight reduction of hemoglobin levels. No other significant blood or bone marrow abnormalities were evident. A mortality study, for the years 1940 to 1973, of 594 employees chronically exposed to benzene at the Midland, Mich., Dow location has recently been accepted for publication. This study was followed by a morbidity study of 282 employees, which were a subset of the employees in the mortality study. The morbidity study was based on health data obtained between 1967 and 1974. The ten employees described in this article were included in both the mortality study population of 594 employees and the morbidity study of the 282 employees.

Health exam findings among individuals occupationally exposed to benzene.

We previously conducted a cohort mortality study of 594 individuals occupationally exposed to measured concentrations of benzene. This report presents health examination findings for a subset of 282 men from the larger group. Although slight decreases in mean total bilirubin and RBC values were detected statistically in comparing the exposed group to controls, these changes were not regarded as clinically significant. No correlations were found between peripheral blood counts and latency, duration or intensity of benzene exposure. Presently we have no indication from our data of adverse effects of benzene having occurred in our subset. Variation in latency among individuals and the possibility of subtle changes effecting an eventual pattern contribute to the need for continued surveillance.

Mortality among individuals occupationally exposed to benzene.

The mortality experience of 594 individuals occupationally exposed to benzene was investigated using a retrospective cohort design. Three hundred thirty-five of the employees began working in benzene areas prior to 1950, which provided a sound data base from which to examine latency. Data derived from work histories and industrial hygiene records permitted estimation of exposure intensities and cumulative dosages for each employee. No mortalities directly attributable to benzene exposure were observed. Several cases of leukemia and other blood disorders were noted and discussed.

A health study of employees exposed to vinylidene chloride.

Previous studies have reported on employee populations exposed coincidentally to vinylidene chloride in copolymer processes using vinyl chloride. The current study examines the mortality and health examination findings of 138 employees exposed to measured levels of vinylidene chloride where vinyl chloride was not used as a copolymer. There were no findings statistically related or individually attributable to vinylidene chloride exposure in this employee population. It is recommended that additional epidemiological studies be undertaken to develop data on chronic exposure to vinylidene chloride.

Elevated urinary phenol levels in beagle dogs treated with salol.

Dogs administered 500 or 250 mg of salol/kg/day showed transient toxicity of a reversible nature. Doses of 125 mg salol/kg/day caused no discernible ill effects in spite of urinary phenol levels elevated as high as 6144 ppm. It appears as if exposure to a compound other than benzene can cause an elevation of urinary phenol.

Elevated urinary phenol levels not related to benzene exposure.

Two common over-the-counter medications may elevate urinary phenol to levels exceeding 75 mg/liter (ppm). This study presents data indicating that it is invalid to correct urinary phenol levels to specific gravity of 1.024. Animal studies indicate that having elevated urinary phenol levels secondary to phenyl salicylate ingestion are not harmful.

Hearing sensitivity in rural Michigan.

In a survey of the hearing sensitivity of a rural mid-Michigan population, 1,325 adults over 15 years of age received pure tone air conduction tests in a "mini" IAC room housed in a small trailer. In addition, a detailed questionnaire was administered to each person to obtain information about his exposure to noise vocationally and avocationally, family history of hearing loss, etc. Results indicated that, on the average, individuals displayed hearing losses considerably greater than was predicted on the basis of presbycusis alone. Also, people who had never had any industrial noise exposure had thresholds almost as poor as those who had worked in factories. These findings are discussed in view of the subject's exposure to various types of nonoccupational noise such as snowmobiles and motorcycles.