Document xpQLnqerQ0kYdx25x3wjazy6

i6o OCCUPATIONAL TUMORS AND ALLIED DISEASES in general. There were, according to Irvine's data, 133 cases of skin cancer treated in 1930 in a population of 1,502 cotton mule spinners (1921 census). Ninety-four of these tumors involved the scrotum and were typical mulespinners' cancer. The rest of the neoplasms were situated in other parts of the skin. In the following year Henry analyzed the occupational records of 1,487 males with fatal scrotal cancer, which had been reported to the RegistrarGeneral of England and Wales during 1911 to 1935; and prepared the following tabulation, arranged in quinquennial periods, concerning the inci dence of this disease among mule spinners: Years 1911-15 1916-20 1921-25 1926-30 I93I-35 Scrotal Cases 40 56 77 92 80 Other Sites of Skin 15 23 24 23 Total 345 104 There were 449 cases of oil cancer officially recorded in England and Wales during a period of 25 years (1911 to 1935). Approximately 75 per cent of the cutaneous, industrial oil cancers were located on the scrotum. Henry attempted to obtain information concerning the approximate risk of mule spinners to contract oil cancer. He correlated the number of operatives em ployed in the cotton spinning industry with the number of cases of skin cancer observed during various periods (1911-1915: 42,000 workers and 8 cancers per year; 1921-1925: 28,000 workers and 15.4 cancers per year; 1931-1935: 33,000 workers and 16 cancers per year, making a crude death rate of 190,550 and 480 per million, respectively). Henry concluded that the figures obtained were by far too low, considering that the suggested figures of the population at risk were without doubt greater than the actual ones used for his calculation. Finally, reference may be made to a case of oil cancer in a gunsmith who used mineral oil (Rangoon oil, paraffin oil, and vaseline) in his work (O'Dono van). The total number of mineral oil cancers placed on record in Great Britain is well above 1,500 cases. The following information, concerning the occurrence of oil cancer, is available from Asia. Koinuma noted in 1930 that up to the year 1928 no reports in regard to industrial oil and paraffin cancer were made in Japan. This observation was corroborated by Nagayo and Kinosita (1940) concern ing oilers employed in Japanese cotton mills. Buschke and Curth stated that oil cancer was unknown among workers employed in the cotton mills of India. Relatively few workers remain in these operations for more than a few years. Thus, the observation does not exclude the possibility that the occurrence of delayed cancerous responses among former cotton spinners in India has escaped the attention of the investigators, from whom Buschke and Curth received their information. This suspicion is based on the fact that