Mortality in Swedish Glassworks

An earlier, relatively small case-referent study has shown an increased risk for glassworks employees to die from stomach cancer, lung cancer, and cardiovascular disorders.  This observation suggested an extended study virtually covering the entire glass-producing industry of Sweden.  This new study confirmed the earlier results and, furthermore, an excess risk for colon cancer was also identified.  No deviation was found in the cancer mortality pattern for all men in the glass-producing area compared to the whole of Sweden.  The grouping of glassworks employees according to type of metal consumption at the glassworks showed the excess risks of stomach cancer, colon cancer, and cardiovascular deaths to relate to glassworks with a high consumption of lead, arsenic, antimony, and manganese.  However, the strong correlation of these various metal exposures did not permit any successful separation of the effects of the different metals.  For cardiovascular mortality, as for cancer, the glassblowers especially suffered from increased risk.  Their exposure might principally be oral, involving the glassblower's pipe as a "vector" for the exposure to various metals. (The greatest risk obviously is to glassblowers who make their own glass from scratch (batch processing).  However, even glassblowers working with cullet could have excess risk from colorants and other materials used at later stages of glassblowing. - Ed.)

 

The preceding abstract was reprinted with permission from Section 35, Occupational Health and Industrial Medicine, of Excerpta Medica.

Mortality in the Swedish glassworks industry - Wingren G. and Axelson O. - Department of Occupational Medicine, University Hospital, S-581 85 Linkoping SWE - Scand. J. Work Environ. Health 1987 13/5 (412-416).


Art Hazard News, Volume 11, No. 6, 1988

This article was originally printed for Art Hazard News, © copyright Center for Safety in the Arts 1988. It appears on CAR courtesy of the Health in the Arts Program, University of Illinois at Chicago, who have curated a collection of these articles from their archive which are still relevant to artists today.