Abstract
This cross-sectional study was intended to examine health effects of a total of 678 male workers exposed to dioxins at 36 waste incineration plants in Japan. The subjects were employed in municipal and private waste incineration facilities during an 8-yr period from 2000 to 2007. Blood samples were obtained for analysis of concentrations of dioxins including coplanar-polychlorinated biphenyls (coplanar-PCBs) and evaluation of health effects. Health effects including diabetes were surveyed with physician’s interview or clinical data from blood samples. There was a certain difference in serum concentrations of PCDFs between the incinerator workers and Japanese general population, although no difference in the concentrations of total dioxins or PCDDs was found between the two groups. A few positive correlations between serum levels of PCDDs and PCDFs and the results of laboratory and physiological tests were found, but coplanar-PCBs had significant relations with 14 parameters of the tests. Background serum levels of PCDDs, PCDFs and total dioxins were significantly associated with prevalence of diabetes. No essential differences in serum concentrations of total dioxins and in prevalence of diabetes between our subjects and general population suggested that the incinerator workers were marginally exposed to dioxins in workplaces without any recognizable adverse health effects.
