Elsevier

Environmental Research

Volume 21, Issue 1, February 1980, Pages 35-43
Environmental Research

Present knowledge of the toxic effect of beryllium
Mortality patterns from lung cancer and nonneoplastic respiratory disease among white males in the Beryllium Case Registry

https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-9351(80)90005-5Get rights and content

Abstract

Study was undertaken of mortality patterns among white males entered into the Beryllium Case Registry (BCR) while alive with a diagnosis of beryllium-related nonneoplastic respiratory symptoms or disease. Analyses demonstrate an excessive risk of lung cancer among those subjects in the BCR who had been previously diagnosed with acute chemical pneumonitis or bronchitis secondary to short-term beryllium exposure. In the evaluation of the excessive lung cancer risk in this population, consideration should be given to the competing effects from the high case fatality rate of nonneoplastic respiratory disease. This excessive risk of lung cancer could not be explained on the basis of cigarette smoking per se. The findings of the present study utilizing subjects in the BCR are consistent with results of animal studies that over 30 years ago first demonstrated beryllium to be a carcinogen and with numerous epidemiologic studies demonstrating an increased risk of lung cancer among workers occupationally exposed to beryllium and its compounds.

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