Chromium and nickel

Our plain-English summary of Chromium and nickel, by G. Kazantzis (The Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 1972).

The study

• Author: G. Kazantzis
• Journal: The Annals of Occupational Hygiene
• Published: 1972;15(1):25-31
• Cited by: 5 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Chromium and nickel are two elements shown to have a limited but definite carcinogenic potential in man. Workers engaged on the production of chromates from the raw material, chrome iron ore, have experienced an increased mortality from lung cancer. Exposure to chromates or bichromates in industries where these compounds are used rather than manufactured, while producing epithelial ulceration, has not been shown to be associated with an increased mortality from cancer. However, no detailed epidemiological study of such workers has been performed. Nickel refinery workers have experienced an increased mortality from cancer of the nose and from cancer of the lung. The evidence suggests that this risk is not experienced by workers who have only been employed in refineries modified to reduce exposure to nickel compounds. Chromium compounds have a limited carcinogenic potential in experimental situations whilst many nickel compounds have been shown to be tumorigenic.

PubMed has no abstract for this study. This is the authors' abstract, copied from the article.

In plain English

This article was a review, not a new study. The author summarised published evidence that chromium and nickel can cause cancer in people, drawing on earlier worker studies and animal experiments. For chromium, it described reports that workers making chromates from chrome ore had excess lung cancer. In one American series of seven chromate plants, 42 of 193 deaths (22 per cent) were from lung cancer, about thirty times the expected number. Workers who used chromates rather than made them had skin ulcers and holes in the nasal septum, but no link with cancer had been reported. The author noted that no adequate study of these workers had been done. For nickel, the review described excess nose and lung cancer among refinery workers in South Wales and Ontario. No nasal cancer had been found in South Wales men first employed after 1924. Animal studies cited produced tumours with calcium chromate and with several nickel compounds. On asbestos, the author wrote that chrysotile contains significant nickel but lacks the high cancer potential of other asbestos forms that do not contain nickel. The author concluded that both elements had a limited but definite carcinogenic potential in man.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Review of published human and animal studies on chromium and nickel as causes of cancer; no new data were collected
• Who was studied: No study population of its own. The review covered chromate production workers in the U.S.A. and Britain, chromate users, nickel refinery workers in South Wales and Ontario, and experimental animals (mainly rats)
• Exposure: Chromite (chrome iron ore) processing, chromates, dichromates, chromic acid and calcium chromate. Nickel refining dusts, nickel carbonyl, nickel sulphide and other nickel compounds. Chrysotile asbestos was mentioned only in connection with its nickel content
• Main results:
  • Earlier American series (seven chromate plants): 42 of 193 deaths (22 per cent) were attributed to lung cancer, estimated at about thirty times the expected number
  • Earlier British study (Bidstrup and Case, 1956) of three chromate factories: 723 men were enrolled in 1949, of whom 506 were followed for six years. Twelve cases of lung cancer were found, a significant increase over the number expected
  • In industries that used chromates and chromic acid, dermatitis, skin ulceration and nasal septum perforation were well known, but an association with cancer had not been reported
  • Earlier study of South Wales nickel refinery workers (Doll, 1958): at least 126 lung cancer deaths and 62 nasal cancer deaths occurred between 1923 and 1956. Lung cancer deaths were almost five times the expected number. Nasal cancer mortality in 1948-1956 was about 150 times that of the male population of England and Wales
  • Ontario nickel refinery workers (Mastromatteo, 1967), 1930 to 1965: 16 nasal cancer deaths against 0.17 expected (about 100-fold), and 37 lung cancer deaths against 12.7 expected (about three-fold). The decimals are printed as '0-17' and '12-7'
  • South Wales refinery follow-up (Doll et al., 1970): no nasal cancer occurred in men first employed after 1924, and lung cancer deaths in this group were not greater than expected from national mortality. The observed figure was 8; the expected figure is printed '6-2'
  • Animal studies cited: calcium chromate given subcutaneously produced a 75 per cent tumour yield in 24 rats. 25 mg nickel sulphide given subcutaneously produced fibrosarcoma in eight out of ten rats
  • On asbestos, the author stated that significant amounts of nickel had been found in chrysotile, but that chrysotile does not have the high carcinogenic potential of other asbestos forms that do not contain nickel
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that chromium and nickel have a limited but definite carcinogenic potential in man. Chromate production workers had increased lung cancer mortality, and nickel refinery workers had increased nasal and lung cancer mortality. The evidence suggested that the nickel risk did not apply to workers employed only in modified refineries
• Limitations the authors state:
  • No adequate epidemiological study had been done of workers who use, rather than make, chromates. Because of a latent period of about 20 years, long follow-up would be needed before the carcinogenic potential of chromium could be assessed

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Lung cancer.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Carcinogenic, Lung Cancer.

Related studies

• Determination of iron, chromium, cobalt, nickel, and scandium in asbestos by neutron activation analysis — A. Holmes, A. Morgan, et al. (1971)
• Chromium and nickel in Pteridium aquilinum from environments with various levels of these metals — K. Kubicka, A. Samecka-Cymerman, et al. (2015)
• Inter-rater agreement for a retrospective exposure assessment of asbestos, chromium, nickel and welding fumes in a study of lung cancer and ionizing radiation — E.A. Seel, D.D. Zaebst, et al. (2007)
• Length-dependent pathogenic effects of nickel nanowires in the lungs and the peritoneal cavity — C.A. Poland, F. Byrne, et al. (2012)
• Can lung cancer risk among nickel refinery workers be explained by occupational exposures other than nickel? — T.K. Grimsrud, S.R. Berge, et al. (2005)
• Nickel-related cancer in welders — S. Langård (1994)

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