In the 1930s and later, epidemiologists from Japan, the UK, and the US, including Richard Doll and various others, reported greater rates of death from lung cancer following occupational exposure to PAH-rich environments among workers in coke ovens and coal carbonization and gasification processes.
Na década de 1930 e posteriormente, os epidemiólogos de Xapón, Inglaterra e EUA, como Richard Doll e outros, informaron de maiores taxas de mortes por cancro de pulmón entre os traballadores expostos a ambientes ricos en HAPs como os obreiros dos fornos de coque e os dos procesos de carbonización e gasificación do carbón.