Symposium Overview: Toxicology, Carcinogenesis, and Human Health Aspects of 1,3-Butadiene

A RECENT STUDY of head and neck cancer in Ireland (Herity et al., 1981) confirmed that tobacco and alcohol consumption were significant risk factors in the development of cancer of the larynx; a heavy smoker had a risk almost 40 times that of a non-smoker and a heavy drinker had a 3-fold increase in risk over a nondrinker. Many other workers have described similar findings (Wynder et al., 1956, 1976; Vincent & Marchetta, 1963; Rothman & Keller, 1972; Feldman & Hazan, 1975; McMichael, 1978; Ward Hinds et al., 1979). Another neoplasm which has been consistently related to heavy smoking is lung cancer; a comparative study of lung and larynx cancer in relation to tobacco and alcohol consumption is thus of interest. Sixty-eight cases of larynx cancer were included in the sample of 200 headand neck-cancer patients in the abovementioned study 59 males and 9 females-and details of age, marital status, occupation, education and tobacco/ alcohol consumption had been recorded for these patients. A presenting sample of 68 lung-cancer patients matched with the larynx-cancer patients for sex but not for age, was interviewed using the same precoded questionnaire as in the earlier study. The control group for the earlier study was again used. Diagnoses of the control group included cancers of the skin, haemopoietic system, gastrointestinal tract, breast, male and female genital tracts, brain, endocrine system, and connective tissue and preAccepted 23 September 1982