In Germany, bladder cancer cases are compensated if occupational exposures to aromatic amines are recognized to be causative (Occupational Disease No. 1301 of Appendix 1 of the German ordinance on occupational diseases). But the occupational-medical experts have to face particular difficulties during case assessment. The reasons for this are complex: the currently available epidemiological data are insufficient to establish doserisk associations for carcinogenic aromatic amines. In addition, occupational exposures have to be differentiated from environmental and personal risks, in particular from those associated with personal smoking habits, for an accurate assessment of their relative contributions to bladder cancer induced by aromatic amines. In this context, we have developed a model which combines findings from animal studies with epidemiological data for smoking. The so derived dose-risk associations for 2-napthylamine, 4-aminodiphenyl and o-toluidine permit the assessment of the relevance of any occupational and non-occupational exposures to the single aromatic amines and to mixtures.
