A comprehensive review of occupational and general population cancer risk: 1,3-Butadiene exposure-response modeling for all leukemia, acute myelogenous leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, chronic myelogenous leukemia, myeloid neoplasm and lymphoid neoplasm.

Excess cancer risks associated with 1,3-butadiene (BD) inhalation exposures are calculated using an extensive data set developed by the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) from an epidemiology study of North American workers in the styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) industry. While the UAB study followed SBR workers, risk calculations can be adapted to estimate both occupational and general population risks. The data from the UAB SBR study offer an opportunity to quantitatively evaluate the association between cumulative exposure to BD and different types of cancer, accounting for the number of tasks involving high-intensity exposures to BD as well as confounding associated with the exposures to the multiple other chemicals in the SBR industry. Quantitative associations of BD exposure and cancer, specifically leukemia, can be further characterized by leukemia type, including potential associations with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), and the groups of lymphoid and myeloid neoplasms. Collectively, these multiple evaluations lead to a comprehensive analysis that makes use of all of the available information and is consistent with the risk assessment goals of the USEPA and other regulatory agencies, and in line with the recommendations of the USEPA Science Advisory Board. While a range of cancer risk values can result from these multiple factors, a preferred case for occupational and general population risk is highlighted. Cox proportional hazards models are used to fit exposure-response models to the most recent UAB data. The slope of the model with cumulative BD ppm-years as the predictor variable is not statistically significantly greater than zero for CML, AML, or, when any one of eight exposure covariates is added to the model, for all leukemias combined. The slope for CLL is statistically significantly different from zero. The slope for myeloid neoplasms is not statistically significantly greater than zero while the slope for lymphoid neoplasms is statistically significantly greater than zero. The excess risk for the general population is largest for lymphoid neoplasms. The best estimates of the environmental concentrations (ECs) associated with an excess risk of 1/100,000 by age 70 years for lymphoid neoplasms, all leukemias, and CLL are EC(1/100,000)'s equal to 0.06, 0.16 and 0.38 ppm, respectively. The best estimates of the occupational BD exposure from 20 to 65 years of age associated with an excess risk of 1/10,000 by age 70 years for lymphoid neoplasms, all leukemias, and CLL are the EC(1/10,000)'s of 2.7, 7.3 and 15.1 ppm, respectively.