OCCUPATIONAL CANCER – One Death Every 52 Seconds

Take note, “…at least one in every 10 cancers – and probably many more – is the result of preventable, predictable workplace exposures.”1 This global statistic reveals an unsettling situation.

Asbestos in the worst offender, but there are many players on this deadly stage:

• Metals such as arsenic, chromium & nickel linked to cancers of the bladder, lung, and skin.
• Chlorination byproducts such as trihalomethanes linked to bladder cancer.
• Natural substances such as asbestos linked to cancers of the larynx, lung, mesothelioma, and stomach; silica linked to lung cancer; aflatoxin contamination on nuts linked to liver cancer.
• Petrochemicals and combustion products, including motor vehicle exhaust and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), linked to cancers of the bladder, lung, and skin.
• Pesticide exposures linked to brain cancer, Wilms’ tumour, leukemia, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
• Reactive chemicals such as vinyl chloride linked to liver cancer and soft tissue sarcoma.
• Metalworking fluids and mineral oils linked to cancers of the bladder, larynx, nasal passages, rectum, skin, and stomach.
• Ionizing radiation linked to cancers of the bladder, bone, brain, breast, liver, lung, ovary, skin, and thyroid, as well as leukemia, multiple myeloma, and sarcomas.
• Solvents such as benzene linked to leukemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; tetrachloroethylene linked to bladder cancer; and trichloroethylene linked to Hodgkin’s disease, leukemia, and kidney and liver cancers.
• Environmental tobacco smoke linked to cancers of the breast and lung.2

In the United States, NIOSH (Nat'l Institute for Occupational Safety & Health) reports “it is estimated that approximately 20,000 cancer deaths and 40,000 new cases of cancer each year in the U.S. are attributable to occupation.” And speaking of unsettling, “Less than 2% of chemicals in commerce have been tested for carcinogenicity.”3

EXPOSURE—HOW DOES IT HAPPEN? It's quite simple: You breathe it, get it on your skin or in your mouth. If you know the specific hazards of the chemicals you're working with or around, and you know these chemicals have been tested for carcinogenicity (and other health hazards), then it becomes an issue of preventing an exposure when you are in the presence of hazardous chemicals. But did you get that part about “Less than 2% of chemicals in commerce have been tested for carcinogenicity” ? Does it feel sort of like having the rug pulled out from under you?

If you were me, you would find out as much as you can (from independent as opposed to manufacturer sources) about the chemicals in your environment. Take some time to do some homework (did you get the part about “one death every 52 seconds”?); library and internet resources are vast and accessible. Then preventing exposure to them is paramount and should become your focus. That prevention can look like, a) using PPE (personal protective equipment), b) requesting or creating engineered methods, or c) eliminating the chemical from your environment (presented in LEAST desirable order, by the way). Some workplaces are more conducive to some or all of these strategies than others, but regardless, complacency on the part of employee or employer should be considered absolutely unacceptable.

“…at least one in every 10 cancers – and probably many more – is the result of preventable, predictable workplace exposures.”

1. International Labour Organization statistic in International Metalworkers' Federation publication: Occupational Cancer/Zero Cancer.
2. Ibid
3. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/cancer/