(1) Despite the short duration of follow-up, some occupation-cancer associations, consistently documented in others surveillance studies, have been detected in our study: lung cancer among motor vehicle drivers (SMR 143, 27 obs), metal molders (SMR 178, 8 obs), welders (SMR 241, 7 obs) and wood workers (SMR 218, 12 obs), leukemias and electrical workers (SMR 367, 6 obs).
(2) Molders and casters were determined to have the highest excess risk in a case-control study among the cohort.
(3) The most important finding was the concentration of lung cancer among molders in iron foundries.
(4) The mortality from cancer was increased among the molders (standardized mortality ratio 152, 95% confidence interval 100-221), mainly because of an excess number of deaths from bladder cancer (standardized mortality ratio 896, 95% confidence interval 329-1,949).
(5) Lung cancer mortality was higher than expected (SMR 150) in the entire cohort; closer analysis revealed that the excess was confined to iron foundries, and especially to molders with more than 5 years of exposure.
(6) For this purpose, a cohort of 632 male molders was followed through 10 years with regard to cause-specific mortality.
(7) A proportional mortality study was conducted utilizing the death records maintained from 1971 to 1975 by the International Molders and Allied Workers Union as part of a death benefits program.