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Objective: Dieldrin and aldrin, pesticides widely used until the 1970s, have been under suspicion of being carcinogenic. In this study, overall and cause-specific mortality was assessed in a cohort of 570 employees occupationally exposed to the pesticides dieldrin and aldrin to investigate the long-term health effects, in particular carcinogenic effects., Methods: All of the employees worked in the production plants between January 1954 and January 1970 and were followed for cause-specific mortality until 30 April 2006. Based on dieldrin levels in blood samples taken from 343 workers during the exposure period, the total intake of dieldrin was estimated for each individual subjects in the cohort. The estimated total intake ranged from 11 to 7,755 mg of dieldrin, with an average of 737 mg., Results: Two hundred and twenty-six workers had died before 30 April 2006 compared with an expected number of 327.3, giving a standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of 69.0 (95% confidence interval (CI): 60.3-78.7). Overall cancer mortality was also significantly lower than expected (SMR: 76.4, 95% CI: 60.8-94.9). Also, none of the specific cancer sites showed a significant excess mortality and no association between exposure level and cancer mortality was found., Conclusion: The results from this study support findings from other epidemiological and recent animal studies concluding that dieldrin and aldrin are not likely human carcinogens.

This study was conducted to investigate the possible long-term health effects, in particular carcinogenic effects, of occupational exposure to the organochlorine insecticides dieldrin and aldrin. We updated an earlier cohort mortality study of 570 employees involved in the production of these insecticides. All of the employees had worked in the production plants between 1 January 1954 and 1 January 1970 and were followed for cause-specific mortality until 1 January 2001. Based on dieldrin levels in blood samples taken during the exposure period, available for 343 workers, individual estimates of the total intake of dieldrin were estimated for all individual subjects in the cohort. The estimated total intake ranged from 11 to 7755 mg of dieldrin, with an average of 737 mg. One hundred and seventy-one workers had died before 1 January 2001, compared with an expected number of 226.6, giving a standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of 75.6 [95% confidence interval (CI): 64.6-87.7]. This deficit in total mortality was mainly attributable to a deficit in cardiovascular disease mortality, but cancer mortality was also lower than expected. The observed number of deaths from rectal cancer was significantly higher than expected (SMR = 300.0; 95% CI: 109.5-649.3), but was most pronounced in the low-intake subgroup and appears to be unrelated to exposure to dieldrin and aldrin. This study reinforces the earlier findings that occupational exposure of workers to significant amounts of dieldrin and aldrin has not led to a higher cancer mortality than would be found in an unexposed population.