Occupational Experience of Exposure to Mixtures of Chemicals

Occupational diseases are associated with complex sets of causes of both environmental and personal origin. The problems of dealing with mixtures of chemicals in the work environment are identified and limitations of currently used methods are stressed. Exposures to more than one metal and more than one solvent are used as typical examples to point out deficiencies in methods and to suggest some unified approaches based on the effects. Factors contributing to occupational cancer are discussed in relation to multievent and multifactor models. The importance of identifying confounding factors in the interpretation of results of epidemiological studies is pointed out. The need for biological models for elucidating the mechanism of action of mixtures of chemicals is stressed in relation to the design of epidemiological studies.