title: Benzene and leukemia, Pliofilm revisited: I. An historical review of the leukemia deaths among Akron Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company employees.
abstract: The cohort study of Pliofilm workers exposed to benzene has been used as a primary data source to estimate quantitative dose response for benzene-leukemia. Little attention has focused on the undercounting of leukemia deaths used in the analyses, nor on the behavior of the company toward the Pliofilm workers who contracted leukemia. An historical review of documents related to the Akron portion of the cohort indicates that between two and five workers diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) could be added to the cohort for alternate dose response analyses. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the company did not inform Pliofilm workers with AML that they had the disease, concealed from the workers, including those diagnosed with AML, and the treating hematologist that benzene was the solvent being used, and denied compensation for AML cases exposed to benzene until forced to do so by the State of Ohio in 1968.
authors.affiliation: Falls Church, VA, USA. pinfante@starpower.net
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Infante
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001554:Benzene / Q000506:poisoning*; D002617:Chemical Industry / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000266:history*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000266:history*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000266:history*; D009820:Ohio
chemical_list: D001554:Benzene