In 2007 the industrial injury advisory council of the German Ministry of Labour recommended the recognition of some malignancies such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) as official occupational diseases after exposure to benzene. We updated four metaanalyses of epidemiological studies on benzene exposure and NHL. Only one of these analyses showed a relationship of borderline statistical significance. The mean relative risks were estimated between 1.0 and 1.3. Accordingly, in 2009 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified the association between benzene exposure and NHL in the category “limited evidence”. We conclude that the recommendation of the German industrial injury advisory council to recognize NHL after benzene exposure as an official occupational disease should be critically reviewed.
