High toxicity and carcinogenesis of occupational exposure to 4, 4’-methylenebis (2-chloroaniline) (MBOCA)

Abstract

4,4 -Methylenebis (2-chloroaniline) (MBOCA) is an aromatic diamine used widely as a curing agent for polyurethane and epoxy resins. The most notable risk factor for the development of lower urinary tract cancers is occupational exposure to aromatic amines, first noted in England in 1895 [1]. A sentinel case of transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder was diagnosed in an MBOCA manufacturing factory in Taiwan in 2005 [2]. There is also no information regarding the daily dose of MBOCA to which workers were exposed or the route of exposure [3]. However, it remains unclear whether MBOCA causes malignancy.