Dr. Soskolne's ground-breaking and award-winning doctoral dissertation, in an article published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 1984, identified the association between occupational exposure to sulfuric acid and the development of laryngeal cancer.

For his initial work in this field, Dr. Soskolne was awarded the 1983 Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER) annual student prize for the best doctoral dissertation. Subsequently, after further research, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), in 1992, designated "occupational exposure to strong-inorganic-acid mists containing sulfuric acid" as a human carcinogen (Group 1). This came at a time when only some 15 chemical agents/mixtures were so designated and the decision was remarkably based on human studies in the absence of animal data.

Dr. Soskolne's collaborating team subsequently demonstrated the specificity of the effect to the larynx at the following link:

http://www.colinsoskolne.com/documents/IJOEH_Jan11_Soskolne.pdf