The objective of this study is to suggest revised recognition standards for occupational disease due to chromium (VI) by reflecting recent domestic and international research works and considering domestic exposure status with respect to target organs, exposure period, and cumulative exposure dose in relation to the chromium (VI)-induced occupational disease compensation.
In this study, the reports published by major international institutions such as World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) (2012), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (2006), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (2013), American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) (2004), National Toxicology Program (NTP) (2014), and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ASTDR) (2012) were reviewed and the recent research works searched by PubMed were summarized.
Considering the recent research works and the domestic situation, only lung cancer is conserved in the legislative bill in relation to chromium (VI), and the exposure period is not included in the bill. Nasal and paranasal sinus cancer was excluded from the list of cancers that are compensated as the chromium (VI)- induced occupational disease, while lung cancer remains in the list. In the view of legislative unity, considering the fact that only the cancers having sufficient evidence are included in the conventional list of cancers compensated as occupational disease, nasal and paranasal sinus cancer having limited evidence were excluded from the list.
The exposure period was also removed from the legislative bill due to the insufficient evidence. Recent advices in connection with cumulative exposure dose were proposed, and other considerable points were provided with respect to individual occupational relevance.
It is suggested that the current recognition standard which is “Lung cancer or nasal and paranasal sinus cancer caused by exposure to chromium (VI) or compounds thereof (exposure for two years or longer), or nickel compounds” should be changed to “Lung cancer caused by exposure to chromium (VI) or compounds thereof, and lung cancer or nasal and paranasal sinus cancer caused by exposure to nickel compounds”.
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Children are considerably more susceptible to enviro006Emental hazards than adults. This study was conducted to investigate whether the first asbestos exposure in childhood increases the risk of asbestos-related cancer including mesothelioma and lung cancer. MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase, and Google Scholar were searched to find relevant studies published up to July 2012. Six studies reported the relationship between age, including age during childhood, at the first asbestos exposure and mesothelioma. Among them, 4 indicated that people exposed to asbestos in childhood have a higher risk of mesothelioma than those exposed in adulthood. Meanwhile, the other 2 studies showed that asbestos exposure later in life increases the risk of mesothelioma. The results of the 2 studies including non-occupational early childhood exposure report conflicting results. There were 3 studies regarding the relationship between age at first asbestos exposure and lung cancer. However, none of them reported an association between age at first asbestos exposure and the risk of lung cancer. All studies have limitations including small numbers of subjects, the validity of the standardized mortality ratio, and different age categories at first asbestos exposure. There are only a few studies on the harmful effects of asbestos in children in the literature. Therefore, the effect of asbestos exposure during childhood remains unclear and requires further study.
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