This hazard assessment updates the health effects sections of an earlier HSE review of Portland cement (HSE 1994). The latter is taken to represent an accurate assessment of the literature available up to 1991. This assessment
concentrates on the evidence for non-malignant respiratory disease and carcinogenesis. The primary literature on skin sensitisation has not been reviewed because the potential for cement to cause such reactions, due to the presence of hexavalent chromium, has been established by other reviews. Toxicological endpoints such as reproductive toxicity and mutagenicity have not been considered because there are no data.