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Research Population-based studies have related exposure to fine particulate air pollution 2004) to cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer. We have established a large retrospective cohort study of mortality in the unionized U.S. trucking industry. Each job category in this population has distinct exposure patterns: drivers are exposed directly to traffic; dockworkers are exposed to trucks in the yard and propane and liquified natural gas exhaust from forklifts; shop-workers are exposed to short-term vehicle exposures during repairs; and other terminal based personnel have little exposure to vehicle exhaust (Davis et al. 2006; Smith et al. 2006). To provide insight into mortality patterns associated with these exposures we examined rates of cause-specific mortality by the different job categories in the trucking industry compared with the general U.S. population. The Trucking Industry Particle Study. The Trucking Industry Particle Study was designed to assess the risk of lung cancer mortality in trucking industry workers with exposures to diesel and other vehicle exhausts. The study consists of three parts: a) a retrospective cohort study of lung cancer mortality among Teamsters Union members employed in 1985 in four participating companies; b) an extensive national exposure assessment designed to determine the factors influencing exposure to diesel and other vehicle exhausts, including job title, diesel vehicle use, and size and location of assigned terminal (Davis et al. 2006; Smith et al. 2006); and c) a mailed questionnaire sent to current workers to assess the distribution of smoking habits by job title and terminal characteristics (Jain et al. 2006). The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard School of Public Health, and VA Boston Institutional Review Boards approved the protocol. Cohort participants were not contacted directly, and therefore could not provide informed consent. Individuals completing the smoking questionnaire were sent a cover letter describing the goals of the study and other key aspects of informed consent, and were assumed to have given consent by completing the questionnaire. We obtained detailed work history information for all 58,326 unionized trucking industry employees (54,319 men and 4,007 women) who had worked for at least 1 day in 1985 at one of the participating companies. Information available on each individual included social security number, age, race, sex, date of hire, last date of work, and daily job title and terminal (i.e., workplace) location through 2000. In one of the four companies, computer files were only available for the active workers starting in 1993. Therefore, we …