| Abstract: | ![]()
The aromatic amine ortho-toluidine has been recognized by IARC as an animal carcinogen for the past decade. Three recent epidemiological studies of worker populations have now implicated this chemical as a human bladder carcinogen. In a study by E. Ward, A. Carpenter, S. Markowitz, D. Roberts, and W. Halperin ((1991), J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 83, 501–506), workers definitely exposed to ortho-toluidine for at least 10 years experienced a Standardized Incidence Ratio (SIR) of 27.2 (90% CI = 11.8–53.7). The other major exposure was to aniline, which significant epidemiological studies have failed to confirm as a human carcinogen. In retrospect, studies by G. F. Rubino, G. Scansetti, G. Piolatto ((1982) Environ. Res. 27, 241–254) and M. J. Stasik ((1988) Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health 60, 21–24) also support the hypothesis that ortho-toluidine is a human bladder carcinogen. Animal studies of both ortho-toluidine and its possible confounders in these epidemiological investigations further confirm this hypothesis. When evaluated in a suitably comprehensive way, according to the traditional standards for assessing causality outlined by A. B. Hill ((1977) A Short Textbook of Medical Statistics, pp. 288–294, Lippincott, Philadelphia) the evidence that ortho-toluidine causes human bladder cancer has become much more conclusive. In this case, animal tests have proven a good predictor of human carcinogenicity. |
