[Leaded gasoline and cancer mortality].

In an earlier study the authors had found that out of a total of 232 adult residents adjacent to a traffic highway, 11% died of cancer during an observation period of 12 years (the corresponding figure for a traffic-free neighborhood was 1.2%). During the same period a proportion of the residents adjacent to the highway were treated with calciumedetate for the purpose of lead elimination. Of these 47 individuals only one died of cancer, while of those who did not undergo calciumedetate treatment the number of deaths was 24, or six times more percentage-wise. This finding, together with numerous references in the literature, leads to the assumption that lead in gasoline may play a significant role in the development of cancer.