TOXICOLOGICAL PROFILE FOR CHROMIUM - Davidborowski.com

CHROMIUM 662. HEALTH EFFECTScarcinogenicity of lead chromate and zinc chromate because mixed exposure occurred at all of thefactories. Furthermore, exposure levels were not measured, smoking histories were not available for theentire cohort or for most of the cancer cases, and the individual cohort sizes were relatively small.Workers exposed to lead and zinc chromate in a chromate pigment manufacturing factory in France havealso been studied. The cohort consisted of 251 male workers employed for $6 months prior to 1978 andwho were not deceased before 1958. The reference group was the male population of the subdivision innorthern France in which the factory was located. During the 20-year period, 50 deaths occurred amongthe workers, but causes of death were known for only 30. Of these 30 deaths, 11 were due to lung cancercompared with 2.38 expected (O/Ex100=790, p=2x10 -8 ). Three additional cases of lung cancer werediagnosed in 1978 and 1979. The average latency period was 17.01 years for the 14 total cases of lungcancer. All but one of the lung cancer cases were smokers or former smokers, but the authors stated thatthe workers probably smoked no more than the general population because deaths due to other causesassociated with smoking were not increased (Haguenoer et al. 1981). No exposure data were provided,and the study could not resolve the issues regarding the relative carcinogenicity of zinc chromate and leadchromate.A study was conducted on 977 male painters who had worked for at least 3 months within 10 years priorto 1959 at two U.S. military aircraft maintenance bases where spray painting utilized zinc chromateprimer paint. They were followed through 1977. There were 21 deaths due to respiratory cancers,compared with 11.4 expected based on national rates (SMR=184, p