Exposures to carcinogens and consequences of listing of carcinogens in the Swedish working environment

Our plain-English summary of Exposures to carcinogens and consequences of listing of carcinogens in the Swedish working environment, by L. Holm, B. Holmberg (Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 1987).

The study

• Authors: L. Holm, B. Holmberg
• Journal: Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology
• Published: 1987;7(2):185-99
• Cited by: 5 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

The authors, of Sweden's National Board of Occupational Safety and Health (NBOSH), described how carcinogens were listed and regulated in the Swedish working environment and what was known about the resulting exposures. A list of recognized carcinogens had been published with the limit values since 1974. Carcinogens were divided into three classes. Class A comprised 13 substances prohibited for occupational use. Class B comprised 32 substances requiring a permit from the Labour Inspectorate. Class C comprised 24 substances or groups given a limit value. Using exemptions and permits granted up to May 1985, the authors reported quantities handled, types of users and numbers of persons involved. Exemptions had been granted for 11 of the 13 class A substances, almost entirely to cancer research and analytical laboratories, and a little more than 200 persons handled them. About 2600 persons handled class B compounds. For class C, historical and current exposure data were presented for arsenic, asbestos, benzene, chromic acid and vinyl chloride. Crocidolite was prohibited in 1975 and all forms of asbestos in 1981, with permits possible. The asbestos limit value was 1 fiber/ml from 1978 and 0.5 fiber/ml from January 1, 1985. Asbestos imports fell markedly, and exposure levels were generally low but still detectable. The authors concluded that most class C limit values had fallen no more than those for noncarcinogens, with asbestos and benzene as exceptions.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This 1987 article, by two authors from Sweden's National Board of Occupational Safety and Health, described Sweden's listing of workplace carcinogens and its consequences. Listed carcinogens were grouped as class A (prohibited, with exemptions possible; no permit needed below 0.1% in a product), class B (permit required except in products below 1%) and class C (given a limit value). Class A use was almost entirely restricted to cancer research and occupational hygiene monitoring laboratories, with a little more than 200 people handling these substances. About 2600 people handled class B substances. Crocidolite (blue asbestos) had been prohibited for industrial use since 1975. In 1981 all forms of asbestos were prohibited for occupational use; by the time of writing, permits were essentially granted only for pulling down old installations. The asbestos limit value was set at 1 fiber/ml in 1978 and lowered to 0.5 fiber/ml in 1985. Asbestos imports fell markedly; exposures were generally low but still detectable where asbestos was still handled. The authors noted there was essentially no information on how class B use changed since 1974.

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: Descriptive regulatory report by staff of a national occupational safety agency. It covered carcinogen classification, the exemptions and permits granted, and available workplace exposure data in Sweden. It was not an epidemiological study of disease.
• Who was studied: Swedish workplaces and workers handling listed carcinogens, as reflected in exemptions and permits issued up to May 30, 1985, and in workplace exposure measurements. For asbestos, measurements came from workplaces such as workshops, garages, railway workshops, schools and a brake lining plant, in 1978-1981 and 1982-1985.
• Exposure: Listed workplace carcinogens. These included asbestos (crocidolite in class A; asbestos other than crocidolite with a limit value), arsenic, benzene, chromic acid, vinyl chloride and others. The asbestos limit value was 1 fiber/ml from 1978 and 0.5 fiber/ml from January 1, 1985.
• Main results:
  • Class A carcinogens were prohibited for occupational use, but no permit was needed when a product contained less than 0.1% of a class A compound.
  • Class B carcinogens could be used if the Labour Inspectorate issued a permit, but no permit was needed for products containing less than 1% of a class B compound.
  • Crocidolite (blue asbestos) had been prohibited for industrial use since 1975. Three exemptions had been accepted in recent years, involving about 10 persons in research and analytical work.
  • All forms of asbestos were prohibited for occupational use in 1981, with permits possible from the agency.
  • By the time of writing, permits to handle asbestos were essentially granted only for pulling down old installations, and the most persistent uses, in brake linings and gaskets, had been eliminated.
  • Swedish asbestos imports were markedly reduced, which the authors attributed to the stringent asbestos regulations.
  • Asbestos exposure levels were generally low but still detectable in the very few activities where asbestos was still handled.
  • Use of class A compounds was almost entirely restricted to cancer research laboratories and occupational hygiene monitoring laboratories.
  • About 2600 persons in Sweden were involved in handling class B compounds.
  • In chromium plating in 1984, at about 200 companies, all measurements except a few occasional ones were below the chromic acid limit value.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the class A prohibition had confined use to research and monitoring laboratories, and that the population at risk from class B compounds was comparatively small. They also concluded that limit values for class C carcinogens had mostly been reduced to the same extent as those for non-carcinogens, with asbestos and benzene as exceptions.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • There was essentially no information on how handling volumes, user categories or numbers of exposed people for class B compounds changed over time since 1974.
  • Asbestos exposure measurements in the two time periods may not come from the same workplace.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Crocidolite.

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