Benzene and Leukemia Lawyer & Attorney : Burke & Eisner Law Firm : Benzene Exposure, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)  patients who are also  using the drug methotrexate may also be facing an increased risk of lymphoma, leukemia, myeloma and lung cancer.   Researchers in Australia, where over 2 percent of the adults have RA, studied cancer incidence in RA patients who also used methotrexate (MTX) .  An article in the June issue of Arthritis Care & Research reports that their findings suggest an increased risk of malignancies in patients treated with MTX.

The study focused on 459 RA patients, 309 women and 150 men, regularly seen by 1 of 6 rheumatologists based in Melbourne. All had started treatment with MTX prior to June 1986.  The majority had no previous history of immunosuppressant therapy. 61 percent were rheumatoid factor positive.

Those RA patients also on MTX were found to have an estimated  50 percent excess risk of developing cancer in any form.  Risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was greater than 5 times the risk in the general population.  They also have 3 times the risk of melanoma and lung cancer. 

The study's major limitation is that there was no control group of RA patients who were not using methotrexate.  However, Dr. Rachelle Buchbinder, the study's lead author, feels that the study will have important implications in regard to the risk of  melanoma in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

"Further investigation is needed to determine whether this risk is unique to Australia and what role MTX, immunosuppression per se, and/or environmental factors such as exposure to UV radiation play in its development," Dr. Buchbinder stresses. "Our findings, taken together with other studies investigating the risk of skin cancer in patients with RA, may support a role for regular skin cancer screening for all patients with RA, particularly those receiving immunosuppressive therapy."

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A study done by researchers at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and published in the June issue of Pediatrics concluded that there are substantial regional differences  in the occurrence of childhood cancer.  It also demonstrated that other factors such as age, race and gender also influence child cancer rates.

Researchers with the CDC in Atlanta identified and studied nearly 36,500 cases of childhood cancer to determine how a patient's physical characteristics (demographic information) and place of residence (geographic information) may play a role in the overall frequency of the disease. The cases were sorted by age, gender, race, ethnicity, and geography.

From the data studied they learned that the chances of being diagnosed with childhood cancer were:    

• Northeast: 179.12 per million
• Midwest: 165.50 per million
• West: 165.26 per million
• South: 158.65 per million  

In other findings it was learned that boys are more likely than girls to be diagnosed with lymphoid leukemia while  kidney cancer, thyroid cancer and malignant melanomas were  more common for the girls.  It was also learned that cancer was more prevalent in whites than any other race, that teens from 15 to 19 were diagnosed more frequently than children under age 14.

Researchers hope that this study will assist in better understanding and tracking of childhood cancers.

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Here is an example of a typical benzene case from and article (press release) in Texas:

For nearly four decades, David Waldrep worked at Texaco Asphalt in Port Neches, where he claims he was needlessly exposed to benzene. Now deceased, Waldrep's widow claims his benzene exposure caused him to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

His wife Judith Waldrep is suing Texaco, along with 38 other petroleum and chemical companies for negligently manufacturing and distributing benzene products. Her suit was filed on Feb. 7 in the Jefferson County District Court.

According to the plaintiffs' petition, the benzene products were placed into the stream of commerce by the chemical companies, exposing Waldrep to the "deadly" chemical, who worked as a painter and electrician for Texaco Asphalt from 1955 to 1993.

"The defendants sold … and produced toxic petroleum … in a defective and unreasonably dangerous condition," the suit said. "As a result of the breathing and ingestion into his body of these toxic and carcinogenic compounds, Waldrep sustained severe, permanent and deadly injuries in the form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma."

Source:  Southeast Texas Record

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