Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
5128804 
Journal Article 
Review 
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in mineral oil, tar, and pitch, excluding petroleum pitch 
Kipling, MD; Waldron, HA 
1976 
1 
Preventive Medicine
ISSN: 0091-7435
EISSN: 1096-0260 
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE 
SAN DIEGO 
5 
2 
262-278 
English 
935078 
WOS:A1976BX06300007 
HEEP COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) occur naturally in coal and petroleum and, in smaller amounts, in some fossilized woods, peat and lignite. Pitch, tar and soot contain PAH, and may induce skin tumors in those exposed to them in the course of their occupations. Soot was the 1st substance to be indicted as an occupational carcinogen, but is presently relatively unimportant compared with pitch and tar and mineral oil. Exposure to mineral oil causes most cases of scrotal cancer in the Birmingham (England) region. There is a statistically significant excess of second primary tumors of the bronchus in men with a first primary tumor of the scrotum, apparently related to their exposure to mineral oil. Benzo(a)pyrene is the most important carcinogen in soot; the carcinogenicity of crude oils seems to reside in the additive effects of a number of weak carcinogens, 4 or 5-ringed PAH. New products may be generated by cracking. The carcinogenicity of mineral oils can be modified by solvent extraction and oils so treated should be used to reduce the risk to employees.