MBT implicated as possible human carcinogen

ERJ staff report (DS)

London -- A report published in a respected, peer-reviewed publication has implicated MBT (2-mercaptobenzothiazole) as a possible human carcinogen. MBT is widely used in the rubber industry as an accelerator.

The report is published in the Occupational and Environmental Medicine, part of the British Medical Journal group and was authored by Professor Tom Sorahan, Institute of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Birmingham.

Prof. Sorahan has followed the progress of workers at the Flexsys rubber chemical factory in Ruabon Wales and found excess cancer. Some of the excess in bladder cancer can be attributed to exposure to another chemical, ortho-toluidine, but not all.

In his research Prof. Sorahan focussed on the 363 workers at the plant from 1955 to 1985 and studied all occurences of all cancers. It turns out that there were statistically significant excesses of two types of cancer: cancer of the colon and multiple myeloma. Early results also showed that those individuals with greater exposure suffered greater incidence of cancer.

Prof. Sorahan said the sample is small, and the results are by no means conclusive. Furthermore, there is not enough evidence to link exposure to rubber fume in a tyre factory, for example, to increased risk of cancer. Nevertheless, he suggested that this is the first time anyone has seen a link between MBT and increased risk of cancer in humans, and called for further work in this area.

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