Cancer from work can be prevented
Published: 07/12/2011 16:28:42
The British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) welcomes
the publication of important new research to benchmark the preventable causes
of cancer in the UK, published today in the British Journal of Cancer (1)
. The results show that occupational
exposure to dusts, chemicals and other workplace pollutants are important
causes of cancer in the UK that up to now have not been effectively controlled.
We note that occupational cancers are the third most important cause after
smoking and diet/alcohol consumption; accounting for about 4% of all cancers –
almost 12,000 cases each year. The main
causes have been recognized for many years: asbestos, crystalline silica dust,
diesel exhaust and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) found in tars, soot
and other similar materials. Activities and exposures associated with these
four agents alone account for almost 6,000 occupational cancers each year.
However, we also note that each year more than 2,000 cases of breast cancer in
women are attributed to shift work that involves working at night or other
unusual shift patterns that may disrupt the internal body clock.
All of these cancers could have been prevented through
better recognition of the risks within occupations and BOHS believes that with
appropriate focused efforts almost all occupational cancers could ultimately be
prevented. This goal would take time to achieve because there is a very long
lag between workers first being exposed to carcinogens and any disease being
diagnosed, but if we do not act now then the present death toll will continue.
BOHS calls on government, industry and workers representatives to work with us
to plan to eliminate occupational cancer in the UK and drive down the toll
inflicted on the working population.
1.
http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/groups/cr_common/@nre/@new/@pre/documents/generalcontent/cr_080626.pdf