New Study Provides Additional Evidence Regarding Link Between Benzene Exposure and Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

A recent study has linked an increase in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma ("NHL") in individuals living near benzene release sights. The study, released on July 29, 2013 in the medical journal Cancer, was performed by individuals in the Department of Epidemiology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

In reaching their conclusion, the authors linked and geocoded data on benzene release sites in Georgia from 1988 to 1998. The authors used the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), census to tract level population statistics and NHL incidences from the Georgia Comprehensive Cancer Registry (GCCR) from 1999 to 2008. The data indicated that for "every mile the average distance to benzene sites increased, there was an expected 0.31 percent decrease in the risk of NHL" and that "NHL incidence was significantly higher in census tracts that were closer, on average to benzene release sites."

The authors indicated that additional studies are needed from other geographic regions and interactions between benzene and other exposures so that the spatial patterns of NHL incidence can be examined. The authors indicated that future studies should examine the association between the distance to benzene release sites and NHL incidence by using "individual-level geographic data, temporal trends, and dose-response relations between benzene exposure and NHL" since the presence of benzene in the environment is not enough to evaluate how much any one individual was exposed to.

Although exposure to benzene is widely recognized as a cause of leukemia, its connection to NHL is less clear. Epidemiological studies continue to be conducted so that a more definitive conclusion can be made regarding the link between benzene exposure and development of NHL. The evidence continues to grow, but benzene exposure is still not a universally accepted cause of NHL.