Good News on Styrene
A review of the studies of workers exposed to styrene found no evidence of a causal link between styrene exposure and cancer. The literature contains numerous studies of workers with exposures to styrene during its manufacture or use in synthetic rubber or plastics production. Though a couple of studies have found an increase in either non-Hodgkins lymphoma or esophageal cancer many others did not and no dose response was seen in the outliers. The authors conclude that the available epidemiologic literature does not support a causal inference for styrene and any form of cancer.
The paper, published in the October issue of Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine is titled “Epidemiologic Studies of Styrene and Cancer: A Review of the Literature” and was authored by Boffetta P, Adami HO, Cole P, Trichopoulos D and Mandel JS.
