Women Uranium Workers: A Case Study of Perceived Hazardous Exposures and Health Effects (original) (raw)
Related papers
Occupational Health and Safety in uranium mining and milling
Identifies health and safety matters relevant to employees involved in uranium mining and milling, and the transport of uranium, in the context of general health and safety matters affecting mining employees. Includes a brief general survey of the relevant literature and findings with explicit relevance to uranium mining and associated operations. Copies of especially relevant material to be provided to the Committee Secretariat. Identifies and, where possible and as appropriate, comments upon organisations with responsibilities relevant to health and safety of employees involved in uranium mining and milling. Comments on the adequacy of arrangements for assuring the health and safety of employees involved in the uranium industry, and what measures, if any, might be desirable for improving such arrangements. [Responding to this part of the brief will entail visiting the mines at Ranger and Olympic Dam; and also identifying and evaluating relevant instruments used.] Includes an evaluation of approximately 6 submissions received by the Committee (approx 40 pages) in relation to the health and safety of employees in the uranium industry. Draws attention to any findings in relation to the above which are relevant to Committee Term of Reference (d) (health and safety of communities adjacent to mining, milling and transport of uranium). The main focus of the research report is on Term of Reference (c) (health and safety of employees).
Lung cancer in a nonsmoking underground uranium miner
Environmental Health Perspectives, 2001
Working in mines is associated with acute and chronic occupational disorders. Most of the uranium mining in the United States took place in the Four Corners region of the Southwest (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah) and on Native American lands. Although the uranium industry collapsed in the late 1980s, the industry employed several thousand individuals who continue to be at increased risk for developing lung cancers. We present the case of a 72-year-old Navajo male who worked for 17 years as an underground uranium miner and who developed lung cancer 22 years after leaving the industry. His total occupational exposure to radon progeny was estimated at 506 working level months. The miner was a life-long nonsmoker and had no other significant occupational or environmental exposures. On the chest X-ray taken at admission into the hospital, a right lower lung zone infiltrate was detected. The patient was treated for community-acquired pneumonia and developed respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation. Respiratory failure worsened and the patient died 19 days after presenting. On autopsy, a 2.5 cm squamous cell carcinoma of the right lung arising from the lower lobe bronchus, a right broncho-esophageal fistula, and a right lower lung abscess were found. Malignant respiratory disease in uranium miners may be from several occupational exposures; for example, radon decay products, silica, and possibly diesel exhaust are respiratory carcinogens that were commonly encountered. In response to a growing number of affected uranium miners, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was passed by the U.S. Congress in 1990 to make partial restitution to individuals harmed by radiation exposure resulting from underground uranium mining and above-ground nuclear tests in Nevada.
Uranium Exposure and Public Health in New Mexico and the Navajo Nation: A Literature Summary
Navajo Uranium Miners. Risk of lung cancer among male Navajo uranium miners was 28 times higher than in Navajo men who never mined, and two-thirds of all new lung cancer cases in Navajo men between 1969 and 1993 was attributable to a single exposure-underground uranium mining. 1 Through 1990, death rates among Navajo uranium miners were 3.3 times greater than the U.S. average for lung cancer and 2.5 times greater for pneumoconioses and silicosis. 2 Smoking does NOT account for the large increased risk of lung cancer in Navajo men who were uranium miners. 3 The root cause was the miners' exposure to in-mine radon and radon progeny: "The causal association between exposure to radon progeny and lung cancer has been firmly established". 4 Of an estimated 5,000 Navajo uranium workers, 500-600 had died by 1990 and another 500-600 were expected to have died by 2000. 5 Vital status for these workers has not been updated since the early 1990s.
Lung cancer risk among German male uranium miners: a cohort study, 1946–1998
British Journal of Cancer, 2006
From 1946 to 1990 extensive uranium mining was conducted in the southern parts of the former German Democratic Republic. The overall workforce included several 100 000 individuals. A cohort of 59 001 former male employees of the Wismut Company was established, forming a large retrospective uranium miners' cohort for the time period 1946-1998. Mean duration of follow-up was 30.5 years with a total of 1 801 630 person-years. Loss to follow-up was low at 5.3%. Of the workers, 16 598 (28.1%) died during the study period. Based on 2388 lung cancer deaths, the radon-related lung cancer risk is evaluated. The excess relative risk (ERR) per working level month (WLM) was estimated as 0.21% (95% CI: 0.18-0.24). It was dependent on time since exposure and on attained age. The highest ERR/WLM was observed 15-24 years after exposure and in the youngest age group (o55 years of age). While a strong inverse exposure-rate effect was detected for high exposures, no significant association was detected at exposures below 100 WLM. Excess relative risk /WLM was not modified by duration of exposure. The results would indicate the need to re-estimate the effects of risk modifying factors in current risk models as duration of exposure did not modify the ERR/WLM and there was only a modest decline of ERR/WLM with increasing time since exposure.
International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 2010
Retrospective estimates of internal doses received by workers in the nuclear industry following intake of radionuclides, based on bioassay data, are a benchmark method in epidemiological studies. Nonetheless, full information relative to thousands of people included in an epidemiological cohort is rarely available, thus implying difficulties to estimate exposure precisely. To evaluate the cumulative exposure to uranium in a cohort of the AREVA NC Pierrelatte plant workers, we compared the epidemiological Job Exposure Matrix (JEM) method with the dosimetric method based on biological monitoring of exposure for 30 workers randomly selected within the cohort. A moderate to strong correlation was observed between the estimators resulting from the two approaches, thereby validating the JEM as a tool that can be used to characterise cumulative exposure to uranium in the cohort. In addition, this study showed that the JEM is a valuable complement to the interpretation of bioassy, (1) in providing information on exposure periods as well as on physical and chemical form of the radionuclides and (2) in compensating for the lack of exposure data regarding the very earliest periods. Combining the two methods may improve the precision in reconstructing cumulative exposure for epidemiological studies.
Lung Cancer and Radon: Pooled Analysis of Uranium Miners Hired in 1960 or Later
Environmental Health Perspectives
BACKGROUND: Despite reductions in exposure for workers and the general public, radon remains a leading cause of lung cancer. Prior studies of underground miners depended heavily upon information on deaths among miners employed in the early years of mine operations when exposures were high and tended to be poorly estimated. OBJECTIVES: To strengthen the basis for radiation protection, we report on the follow-up of workers employed in the later periods of mine operations for whom we have more accurate exposure information and for whom exposures tended to be accrued at intensities that are more comparable to contemporary settings. METHODS: We conducted a pooled analysis of cohort studies of lung cancer mortality among 57,873 male uranium miners in Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, and the United States, who were first employed in 1960 or later (thereby excluding miners employed during the periods of highest exposure and focusing on miners who tend to have higher quality assessments of radon progeny exposures). We derived estimates of excess relative rate per 100 working level months (ERR/100 WLM) for mortality from lung cancer. RESULTS: The analysis included 1:9 million person-years of observation and 1,217 deaths due to lung cancer. The relative rate of lung cancer increased in a linear fashion with cumulative exposure to radon progeny (ERR/100 WLM = 1:33; 95% CI: 0.89, 1.88). The association was modified by attained age, age at exposure, and annual exposure rate; for attained ages <55 y, the ERR/100 WLM was 8.38 (95% CI: 3.30, 18.99) among miners who were exposed at ≥35 years of age and at annual exposure rates of <0:5 working levels. This association decreased with older attained ages, younger ages at exposure, and higher exposure rates. DISCUSSION: Estimates of association between radon progeny exposure and lung cancer mortality among relatively contemporary miners are coherent with estimates used to inform current protection guidelines.