The objective of this study was to determine whether employees exposed to acrylonitrile at the Waynesboro Plant experienced excess cancer incidence or mortality. In total, 1,083 male employees who had worked with acrylonitrile from 1946 through 1970 at the Waynesboro Plant were included in the study. They were followed through 1981 for mortality and through 1983 for cancer incidence. The observed numbers of deaths by individual cause and cancer cases by site were compared with the numbers expected based on Du Pont and U.S. mortality and cancer incidence rates. Analyses were conducted by job, duration of exposure, exposure level, cumulative exposure index and latency, as well as by calendar time period and payroll class. There were 92 deaths between January 1, 1957 and December 31, 1981 among male employees in the cohort, including twenty-one cancer deaths. These numbers of deaths were smaller than the numbers expected based on either Du Pont or U.S. rates. Deaths from individual cancer sites also did not show significant excesses in the cohort. Thirty-seven cancer cases occurred between January 1, 1956 and December 31, 1983 in the male cohort, compared with 36.5 expected based on Company rates. Five lung cancer cases were observed and 6.9 expected. There were 5 prostate cancer cases in the cohort as compared with 1.9 expected. Four prostate cancer cases occurred among wage employees during the 1975-1983 period compared to 0.9 expected. The statistically significant excess of prostate cancer found in the recent time period could be due to chance. Longer follow-up on this cohort or other study groups may confirm or refute this finding.