Steven H. Wodka

Bladder cancer is a classic work-related disease. In 1895 in Frankfurt, Germany, a physician named Rehn reported that he had seen three cases of bladder cancer from one factory which made dyes. By 1904, Rehn reported twenty cases of bladder cancer from the same plant. Rehn concluded that chemical exposure in the plant had caused the bladder cancers.

 

In the United States in 1915, DuPont began manufacturing dyes in its plant in Deepwater, New Jersey (Salem County). By 1934, DuPont reported twenty-seven cases of bladder cancer among the workers in the plant. By 1936, the number of bladder cancers had increased to sixty-three, of which four had died due to the disease. By 1981, the number of bladder cancers had increased to 316 cases. In a memo dated October 25, 1991, a DuPont physician reported “489 incident cases of bladder cancer since 1929” at this

plant, of which DuPont had determined that 453 had been caused by

chemical exposure.

 

In Niagara Falls, New York, two workers from The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company plant bumped into each other at the local urologist's office. They asked each other for the reason for their visit to the doctor. Each explained that he had been diagnosed with bladder cancer. By 1981, four workers in the plant had developed bladder cancer and they all worked in one area, Department 245. Their union, OCAW Local 8-277, wrote to Goodyear and requested information regarding "known or suspect bladder carcinogens that are now in use or have ever been used at the plant.” In its response. Goodyear denied that any such chemicals had ever been used in the plant.

 

By 1988, the OCAW had documented eight cases of bladder cancer in the Goodyear plant and wrote to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to request an investigation. NIOSH found fifteen cases of bladder cancer, a number which indicated that there was a statistically significant excess incidence of bladder cancer in this group of workers.

 

In 2013, NIOSH updated its study and reported that fifty cases of bladder cancer had occurred among the Goodyear workers through 2007.  NIOSH confirmed “an increased risk of bladder cancer among workers in the plant.” As of 2023, twenty-eight additional cases of bladder cancer have been diagnosed since 2007. Thus, at least 78 cases of bladder cancer have occurred in the workers in this Goodyear plant in Niagara Falls, New York.

 

At the Morton International chemical plant in Paterson, New Jersey, ortho-toluidine was also used in large quantities to manufacture dyes. In 1991, NIOSH surveyed the plant and determined that the workers were receiving significant exposure to ortho-toluidine.  A number of workers have been diagnosed with bladder cancer.

 

The plant in Germany, the DuPont plant in New Jersey, the Goodyear plant in New York, and the Morton plant in New Jersey had one chemical in common: ortho-toluidine. This is a liquid chemical from the "aromatic amine” family which is used as an

intermediate in the manufacture of dyes, rubber chemicals, and other chemicals.

 

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has concluded that "ortho-toluidine is carcinogenic to humans" and has given the chemical its highest classification, "Group 1," because “ortho-toluidine causes cancer of the urinary bladder." The United States National Toxicology Program (NTP) has classified ortho-toluidine as "known to be a human carcinogen," NTP's most severe category for a carcinogen.

 

Yet, the United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) only regulates ortho-toluidine on the basis of its effects other than cancer.  The current OSHA standard permits a worker to be exposed to 5 parts per million (ppm) of ortho-toluidine over an eight hour day, a limit set in 1971 based on research last conducted in 1963.  Notably, all of the worker exposure to ortho-toluidine measured by NIOSH in 1990 at Goodyear and in 1991 at Morton was well within the 5 ppm limit. 

 

Research conducted by DuPont in 1993 found that worker exposure to 5 ppm of ortho-toluidine in the air over an eight hour day would result in a urinary concentration of ortho-toluidine that was 37 times higher than the highest level found by NIOSH in the Goodyear workers in 1990.  These workers were at a significantly increased risk of developing bladder cancer.

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On March 18, 2022, I and three distinguished scientists—Steve Markowitz, an occupational medicine physician, Ron Melnick, a toxicologist, and Liz Ward, an epidemiologist—filed a petition with OSHA for a permanent standard to protect workers against the carcinogenic effects of ortho-toluidine.  As of 2023, OSHA has not yet acted on this petition.

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