Polypropylene production workers and colorectal cancer in Germany: a brief report.

OBJECTIVE A retrospective cohort study of 640 male polypropylene production workers in Germany was performed to evaluate the reported association between colorectal cancer and polypropylene. METHOD The follow up period was 1956 to 1990. Expected numbers of cancers were derived from incidence rates adjusted for age and calendar year from the Saarland cancer registry. RESULTS Three colorectal cancers were identified compared with 4.0 expected (standardised incidence ration (SIR) = 0.75, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 0.15-2.19). For total cancers there were 27 cases in the cohort compared with 35.4 expected (SIR = 0.76, 95% CI: 0.50-1.11). DISCUSSION These results do not support earlier reports of a link between polypropylene production and colorectal cancer, but are consistent with a number of recent investigations of polypropylene production workers that have reported no association with risk of colorectal cancer. Due to the small size of this and other similar studies, however, a small to moderate increase in risk cannot be ruled out.