Yu-Cheng incident

No studies were located regarding dermal effects in humans exposed specifically to CDDs by the oral route. Evidence from human case reports in the Yusho/Yu-Cheng incidents (which involved exposure to CDFs, PCBs, and CDDs) and from animal studies, however, indicates that dermal effects could occur after exposure by the oral route (ATSDR 1994). 

The carcinogenic effects of PCDDs and PCDFs have been extensively investigated in several highly exposed groups, including industrial workers, herbicide applicators, individuals poisoned in the Yusho and Yu-Cheng incidents in Japan... 

In humans, clinical studies of PCB workers reported associations between increased serum levels of liver-related enzymes, lipids, and cholesterol and serum PCBs. Studies of people exposed to PCBs by ingestion of contaminated fish in Triana, Alabama or contaminated rice oil in the Yusho or Yu-Cheng incidents have reported increases in serum levels of some liver enzymes characteristic of microsomal enzyme induction or liver damage, but these effects cannot be attributed solely to PCBs due to the mixed chemical nature of the contaminated fish and heated rice oil exposures. Serum cholesterol, but not triglycerides, was increased in consumers of contaminated fish, whereas increased serum triglycerides, but not cholesterol, were associated with Yusho and Yu-Cheng exposure. 

Yusho and Yu-Cheng Incidents. Several panelists recommended that ATSDR consider including more information on the Yusho and Yu-Cheng poisoning incidents from Japan and Taiwan, respectively, in the Toxicological Profile for PCBs. These incidents involved two populations that consumed rice oil contaminated with complex mixtures of chemicals, which included furans, PCBs, and other compounds. Analyses of these incidents are documented in... 

Other panelists also addressed these public comments. One panelist thought, and others agreed, that some peer-reviewed papers from the Yusho and Yu-Cheng incidents have reported PCB-related neurological effects in adults, including numbness and nerve conduction delays (Chen et al. 1985a Chia and Chu 1984, 1985). An observer, on the other hand, recommended that ATSDR... 

Non-Hodgkins Eymphoma Hepatocellular Carcinoma Melanoma and Squamous Cell Carcinoma Yusho and Yu-Cheng incidents and cancer... 

A poisoning very similar to the Japanese Yusho incident occurred in Taiwan in 1978-1979 and is known as the Yu-Cheng incident. In this... 

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