Cancer morbidity in workers exposed to cutting fluids containing nitrites and amines.

In the mid-1970s it was recognised that cutting fluids containing nitrites and amines may also contain N-nitrosoamines in concentrations between 200 and 30 000 ppm before dilution.' 2 Since many N-nitrosoamines are carcinogenic to animals3 cutting fluids containing these substances were withdrawn from the market in the late 1970s and the nitrites replaced with other substances. Even if there is overwhelming experimental evidence indicating the carcinogenicity ofmany N-nitrosoamines, there is, to our knowledge, no study conclusively showing such effects in man. Cutting fluids with nitrites and amines have been used only since the 1950s and since the latency for many chemically induced tumours is at least 15 to 20 years, we would have expected to see an increased incidence in tumours due to these cutting fluids develop only recently. The object of the present study was to evaluate the cancer morbidity and mortality in machine workers exposed to cutting fluids containing nitrites and amines.