Traditionally, occupational research has focused primarily on white men, even though women comprise 46% of the U.S. civilian workforce, and minorities are often employed in jobs with hazardous exposures. The OEEB has undertaken a number of epidemiologic studies with a substantial focus in occupation which include women and minorities during the past year. A telephone interview survey updating exposure information has been completed in the Agricultural Health Study, a prospective cohort study of more than 90,000 subjects, including approximately 32,000 women and 2,000 minorities. Both direct occupational exposure and indirect environmental exposure to pesticides and other exposures will be evaluated in the study. It was found that wives of farmer pesticide applicators also can be exposed to pesticides due to houshold hygiene practices. In this cohort, no significant excesses of mortality for all causes and for cancer overall were observed, but incidence of melanoma was significantly elevated among farmers' wives. Racial differences in agricultural practices and pesticide-related symptoms were also reported in this study. Black farmers tended to have lower lifetime pesticide use and lower use of high exposure application methods, as well as fewer pesticide-related symptoms such as headaches or idzzliness and skin irritation. The Shanghi Women's Study is a prospective cohort study of 75,000 women conducted in collaboration with Vanderbilt University and the Shanghai Cancer Institute. Blood/buccal cell and urine samples have been collected from nearly 90% of participants. The second biennial follow-up was completed in spring, 2004. Job expsoure matrices (JEM) based on industrial monitoring data maintained by the Shanghai municipal government were completed for several industrial agents, including benzene, tricholoroethylene, lead, chromium, silica and absbestos. This JEMs will be used to estimate exposures based on questionnaire data from participants in the study and analyse in relation to cancer outcomes. Nested case-control studies of breast, lung, stomach and colorectal cancers in relation to biomarkers of occupational and environmental exposures have been initiated within this cohort of women. In addition, a physical activity methods study is ongoing within the cohort. Another on-going prospective cohort study among participants in a screening trial (PLCO Study), about 50,000 women have been enrolled for follow-up studies of cancer risk factors. In addition, analyses are on-going in several case-control studies that include a large proportion of women and minorities, including a study of occupational and environmental cancer risk factors in Iowa, a 24-State death certificate study, a multicenter study of cancer risks among whites and African Americans, case-control studies of stomach cancer in Mexico and Poland, a cohort study of farmers in Xuanwei, China, and a study of oral cancer in Puerto Rico. In Poland, breast cancer risk was elevated among women employed in the electronic and electric equipment manufacturing industry and in a number of professional white collar jobs. For stomach cancer, an increased risk was observed among those employed in leather goods manufacturing in both men and women, and the risk was statistically significant in men. In addition, a large multicenter case-control study of bladder cancer is on-going to examine environmental and occupational risk factors for the consistently elevated incidence and mortality of this cancer in New England. Field data collection in a hospital-based case-control study of kidney cancer with a major focus on occupational exposures has been completed in Central and Eastern Europe; data analysis of this study is ongoing. Field data collection for a population-based case-control study of renal cell cancer among Caucasian and African Americans in the United States is on-going.
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