Foreword
In response to its mandate to provide a safe and healthful workplace for working women and men, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) critically evaluates the scientific data on potentially hazardous occupational exposures or work conditions and recommends measures for minimizing the risk from the hazard. Millions of workers routinely handle carbonless copy paper (CCP) forms each day. Reports of possible health effects from at least 12 countries have been published in the scientific literature. This document presents a review of the health effects of CCP. When investigating the relationship between occupational exposures and adverse health effects, NIOSH generally prefers to use the published literature; but some unpublished sources were used in this review because the published literature was limited. Also considered as part of this review were more than 14,000 pages of material submitted to NIOSH in response to Federal Register notices requesting information about CCP. Such a comprehensive review should help address issues of CCP exposure in the U.S. workforce.
Lawrence J. Fine, M.D., Dr.P.H.
Acting Director, National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
