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International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

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01-09-2005 | Short Communication

Cancer of the urinary bladder in highly exposed workers in the production of dinitrotoluenes: a case report

Authors: Volker Harth, Hermann M. Bolt, Thomas Brüning

Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health | Issue 8/2005

Abstract

Technical dinitrotoluene (consisting of 2,4- and 2,6-dinitrotoluene isomers) has been widely used as explosives. Both technical isomers are mutagenic in Salmonella typhimurium TA98 strains and carcinogenic in rodents. 2,4-dinitrotoluene shows a dose-dependency of malignant tumors of the kidneys, liver, and mammary glands in rats and mice. In this case report, we discuss a cluster of three cases of urothelial cancer amongst a group of about 60 workers exposed to dinitrotoluenes. The workers were employed in the manufacturing of nitrotoluene explosives in the former German Democratic Republic. The cases occurred within a period of 12 years (1990–2002) leading to a 15.9 fold higher incidence of cancer of the urinary bladder than of the federal state where the chemical factory was located. The observation of the cluster of urothelial cancer in persons highly exposed to nitrotoluenes underlines the putative human carcinogenicity of dinitrotoluenes with the human urothelium as a relevant target tissue.

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Title: Cancer of the urinary bladder in highly exposed workers in the production of dinitrotoluenes: a case report
Authors: Volker Harth
Hermann M. Bolt
Thomas Brüning
Publication date: 01-09-2005
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
Published in: International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health / Issue 8/2005
Print ISSN: 0340-0131
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1246
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-005-0012-4

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Cancer of the urinary bladder in highly exposed workers in the production of dinitrotoluenes: a case report

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