A study in Italy found that long-term exposure to benzene and other industrial solvents may increase the risk of developing multiple myeloma ^[1]. The highest risk for myeloma was found in patients with 15 or more years of benzene exposure.

Benzene, a known carcinogen, enters the body through the skin, lungs, or digestive tract.  This industrial solvent is currently used in the manufacture of dyes, synthetic rubber, plastic, and drugs.

Researchers pooled data between 1991 and 1993 from 11 regions in Italy from all cases of blood and lymphatic cancers in people 20 to 74 years old. They also gathered information on healthy individuals in the same occupation. The study included 263 cases of multiple myeloma with 1,100 healthy controls and 586 cases of leukemia with 1,278 healthy controls.

Out of 43 patients who had long-term, medium-to-high exposure to benzene, 19 had multiple myeloma. Symptoms surfaced 10 to 19 years after the exposure. The risk of myeloma in people with benzene exposure was double the risk in cases where there was no benzene exposure.

Benzene was widely used in Italian shoemaking and printing industries in the 1950s and 1960s, until a proven association with acute myeloid leukemia led to a ban in manufacturing in 1963. Since then, benzene appears only in concentrations below 2 percent in solvent mixtures.

The entire article can be found in the November issue of the American Journal of Industrial Medicine ^[2].