Citation

Cannon SB, Veazey JM, Jackson RS, Burse VW, Hayes C, Straub WE, Landrigan PJ, Liddle JA. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1978; 107(6): 529-537.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1978, Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

78669

Abstract

From March 1974-July 1975, 76 (57%) of 133 persons who had worked at a pesticide plant that produced Kepone, a chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticide, contracted a previously unrecognized clinical illness characterized by nervousness, tremor, weight loss, opsoclonus, pleuritic and joint pain, and oligospermia. Illness incidence rates for production workers (64%) were significantly higher than for nonproduction personnel (16%). The mean blood Kepone level for workers with illness was 2.53 ppm and for those without disease 0.60 ppm (p0.001). Blood Kepone levels in current workers (mean, 3.12 ppm) were higher than those in former employees (1.22 ppm). Blood Kepone levels for workers in nearby businesses and for residents of a community within 1.6 km of the plant ranged from undetectable to 32.5 ppb. Illness attributable to Kepone was found in wives of 2 Kepone workers; there was no apparent association between frequency of symptoms and proximity to the plant in the survey of the community population.

Language: en