Comments
Agents associated with sino-nasal cancer include formaldehyde, leather dust, and wood dust. Nickel-refining, chrome refining, and chrome-plating workers showed increased risk in some studies. [LaDou, p. 358] Softwood dust is associated with squamous cell carcinoma, and hardwood dust is associated with adenocarcinoma of the nasal cavity. An increased risk exists for sawmill workers, furniture workers, wood products workers, and carpenters. No increased risk exists for workers in forestry, logging, or paper and pulp. [Dement J. Wood Dust. In: Bingham E, Cohrssen B, Powell C, eds. Patty's Toxicology, 5th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons; 2001:619-49] Seventy percent of patients with sinonasal adenocarcinoma reported in Denmark between 1965 and 1974 had worked for many years in wood-working jobs. [Skov T, Mikkelsen S, Svane O, Lynge E. Reporting of occupational cancer in Denmark. Scand J Work Environ Health 1990;16:401-5] Sino-nasal cancer is associated with occupational exposure to nickel (refining), wood dusts (furniture making), boot and shoe dusts (manufacturing), hexavalent chromium (pigment manufacturing), and radium (dial painting). [Ward, p. 366] Strong evidence: Boot and shoe manufacture and repair; furniture and cabinet making; isopropanol manufacture, strong acid process (sulfuric acid); nickel refining (nickel oxides and sulfides); wood dust. Suggestive evidence: chromium compounds, hexavalent; formaldehyde; mineral oils, untreated and mildly treated. [Siemiatycki, p. 334] Adenocarcinoma of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses is a very rare disease in Germany, and about 30 cases per year are recognized as occupational. A study of 86 cases found increased risk when exposure to inhalable wood dust exceeded 3.5 mg/m3. [Hyperlink] "There is sufficient evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of leather dust. Leather dust causes cancer of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses." [IARC 2012: Leather Dust]