- Full (HTML) - Related EHP Articles - Purchase This Issue

John F. Acquavella,¹ Susan G. Riordan,¹ Margaret Anne,² Charles F. Lynch,³ James J. Collins,¹ Belinda K. Ireland,⁴ and William F. Heydens¹

¹Monsanto Company, St. Louis, MO 63167; ²Monsanto Company, Muscatine Plant, Muscatine, IA 52761; ³University of Iowa, State Health Registry of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242; ⁴St Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63104 USA

Abstract

Alachlor is the active ingredient in a family of preemergence herbicides. We assessed mortality rates from 1968 to 1993 and cancer incidence rates from 1969 to 1993 for manufacturing workers with potential alachlor exposure. For workers judged to have high alachlor exposure, mortality from all causes combined was lower than expected [23 observed, standardized mortality ratio (SMR) = 0.7, 95% CI, 0.4-1.0], cancer mortality was similar to expected (6 observed, SMR = 0.7, 95% CI, 0.3-1.6) , and there were no cancer deaths among workers with 5 or more years high exposure and 15 or more years since first exposure (2.3 expected, SMR = 0, 95% CI, 0-1.6) . Cancer incidence for workers with high exposure potential was similar to the state rate [18 observed, standardized incidence ratio (SIR) = 1.2, 95% CI, 0.7-2.0], especially for workers exposed for 5 or more years and with at least 15 years since first exposure (4 observed, SIR = 1.0, 95% CI, 0.3-2.7) . The most common cancer for these latter workers was colorectal cancer (2 observed, SIR 3.9, 95% CI, 0.5-14.2 among workers) . Despite the limitations of this study with respect to small size and exposure estimating, the findings are useful for evaluating potential alachlor-related health risks because past manufacturing exposures greatly exceeded those characteristic of agricultural operations. These findings suggest no appreciable effect of alachlor exposure on worker mortality or cancer incidence rates during the study period. Key words: agricultural chemicals, alachlor, cancer incidence, mortality. Environ Health Perspect 104:728-733 (1996)

Address correspondence to J.F. Acquavella, Monsanto Company/A2SL, 800 N. Lindbergh Boulevard, St Louis, MO 63167 USA.

We acknowledge contributions by Diane Bowens, Phyllis Korte, and Carole Penn from Monsanto and Diana Wagner and Dan Olson from the State Health Registry of Iowa. Carolyn Watkins coded death certificates for the study. Philip Cole, Roy Shore, Stephen Wratten, and Tom Fuhremann provided helpful suggestions on this manuscript.

Received 7 February 1996 ; accepted 2 April 1996.