Exposure to benzidine dyes

Benzidine dyes are very potent carcinogens (cancer-causing substances). In particular, benzidine dyes have caused bladder cancer in some of the people who worked with or around this group of textile dyes in the past.

One of the most common ways a person could have been exposed to benzidine dyes was breathing in the dye dust while weighing, measuring, and mixing the dye powders. These steps occurred during the process of making the liquid dye solution which was used when dyeing the textiles, paper, or leather.

As a worker's clothing often became saturated with the dye powder or the liquid dye solution, the benzidine dyes regularly came in contact with the worker's skin. Many workers talk about how they constantly had stained skin from working with textile dyes. Relatedly, it was common for workers to eat, drink, and smoke on the job with dye-stained hands, thereby getting inadvertent exposure to benzidine dyes by ingestion.

Colorists, color mixers, and dyehouse workers were often the people most routinely exposed to benzidine dyes at a plant. In addition, maintenance and cleanup crews could have been exposed to benzidine dyes during their work on machines or when cleaning in the dyehouse area.

Finally, family members who came in contact with, handled, or washed the dusty and stained clothes of these workers may have been exposed to benzidine dyes, also, and bladder cancer could develop.

Benzidine dyes looked the same as other textile dyes, and the dye manufacturers did not put warnings on their benzidine dyes to alert workers about the bladder cancer risk. Accordingly, many workers were unknowingly exposed to benzidine dyes. Given this situation, every person who was exposed to any textile dyes in the past should be sure to tell their doctor about their exposure to dyes so that the doctor knows to look for symptoms of bladder cancer.

More about benzidine on our Benzidine Information Page