Document 6bqKnE6kaZw8BKKyGo93gwZm4

Study initiative benzene-NHL in Germany - request for recommendations From: Urbanus Jan <jan.urbanus@concawe.org> To: gswaen@dow.com, a.r.schnatter@exxonmobil.com, "Satin, Ken (KSAT)" <ksat@chevron.com>, Tsai Shan <shan. tsai@shell.com>, Urbanus Jan <jan.urbanus@concawe.org> Cc: geert.dejong@shell.com, chris.money@exxonmobil.com, jean-philippe.gennart@total.com Date: Fri, 04 May 2007 10:19:06 +0100 Attachments: Benzoi_DGMK_13_12_2006_F_eng_JH_BP_TW.ZIP (210.38 k B); Kueppers 2005 Nature Reviews 5 251-262 Mechanisms of B-cell lymphoma pathogenesis.pdf (259.18 kB) Dear All, Following initial information (attached zip file) about an initiative of the German study group BGFA of the Worker Insurance Funds (Berufsgenosseschafte), I made contact with Beate Pesch, epidemiologist at BGFA, to inquire about the precise nature of the proposals. [We have ongoing work with BGFA on workers exposed to asphalt fumes.] In short, the focus is on benzene exposure and Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. The study request is driven by the umbrella organisation HVBG in reaction to an apparently high financial burden of compensation claims in Germany. There is no detailed protocol available yet (indicatively this autumn), but collaboration is planned with Prof Kuppers of Essen University (see attached article) and clearly the intention is the measure biomarkers of effect. HVBG will be the main funding agency, but it is conceivable for CONCAWE to cosponsor the project. BGFA is open to quality external expert inputs. They have in the past had discussions with Debbie Glass (at the 2004 Munich benzene symposium) and recently with Roel Vermeulen of Utrecht University and ex-NCI. Pesch indicated great interest to hear suggestions from our side. From a brief glance at the attached proposal it is clear that their ideas for exposure assessment need to be improved. They are keen on including high exposed workers in the study and think they might find these in Romania. They have also probably talked with Franco Merlo who did the Biomed 2 Benzene study with Bulgarian petrochemical workers as the high exposed group. I will make an attempt to find out a bit more about Romanian exposures in oil industry operations. I would like to know whether we can make recommendations for the biomedical side of the project, for example based on Shanghai project experience. Pesch/BGFA welcome the opportunity for a meeting with our experts in the next couple of months and I would like to try to schedule this. I would prefer if we had for example a 'shadow' protocol for this type of study, so that we could go in such a meeting with firm ideas of how the project should be done. I cannot however gauge whether in our industry to what degree we have this capability. I have some consultancy budget available to support preparation of such a meeting. Please let me have your recommendations. Kind regards, Jan Urbanus Technical Coordinator, Health Issues CONCAWE (the oil companies' european organisation for environment, health and safety) Boulevard du Souverain, 165 B-1160 Brussels, Belgium T: +32-2-566 9163 F: +32-2-566 9181 E: [an.u:banusconcawe.o:q \'-1\Nw.co::cawe.org CGU BEN0000238