Telangiectasia inaluminium workers: afollow up

A five stepinvestigation was carried outtogain a better understanding ofthemorbid- itythataccompanied thedevelopment oftelangiectasia on aluminium workersandtofind its cause.Fifty workers withmultiple telangiectasia whenmatchedwithnormalcontrols showedthe same amountofillness exceptthatevidence ofischaemia on theECG was foundinninecasesand one control. Thecases didnotshowan excessofabnormal biochemical tests.Thebasic his- topathological lesion affected thesurrounding tissue rather thanthevessels themselves. Working inthecurrentenvironment andwearing masksseems to protectyoung workersfromdeveloping thelesions. TheSoderberg andnot theprebake process was associated withthelesions; the causative agentisprobably a gas thatcontains bothhydrocarbons andfluoride components emitted fromtheelectrolytic reactors. Ina previous study' we reported thepresenceof skintelangiectasia on numerous workers inan aluminium plant. Thelesions occurred on theupper partofthebody(chest, back,shoulders, forearms, neck,andface) andincreased innumberandsize withtimespentintheproximity ofhorizontal Soderberg reactors. Apartfromcigarette smoking, factors suchasage,personal hygiene, clothing, and exposuretosunlight were notassociated withthe lesion. Inviewoftheimplications raised bythis new problem (ithadbeendescribed previously inthe Soviet UnionandPoland) we havepursued several lines ofresearch; this papersummarises our most recentfindings. Aluminium ismadeby an electrolytic process underheat. Thecathode isa steel caselined with a thick layer ofcarbon andtheanodeismadeofa mixture ofpitch andtarsuspended intheelectrolytic bath.Several additives (cryolithe, aluminium fluoride) are addedtothereaction tolowerthe fusion temperature andtoaccelerate thereaction. Several airborne contaminants areemitted during thereaction, these include dusts andfumes(fluoride andironparticulates, highmolecular weight hyd- rocarbons), gases(carbon monoxide anddioxide, sulphur dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen oxide, hydrogen fluoride, silica fluoride, andmany low molecular weighthydrocarbons) and radiation