Features

Discounting cancers New reports have confirmed HSE’s estimates of occupational cancer risks fall way short. Hazards says the watchdog should get its act together before another working generation pay with their lives. Hazards 99, July - September 2007

Burying the evidence - How the UK is prolonging the occupational cancer epidemic The UK authorities are failing to acknowledge or deal effectively with an epidemic of work-related cancers. The government’s Health and Safety Executive is underestimating the exposed population, the risks faced as a result of those exposures and the potential for prevention. Hazards report, 25 June 2007 • Cancer Prevention Coalition news release

Global: Hidden cancer epidemic kills hundreds of thousands each year A worldwide epidemic of occupational cancer is claiming at least one life every 52 seconds, but this tragedy is being ignored by both official regulators and employers. A new cancer prevention guide, reveals that over 600,000 deaths a year – one death every 52 seconds – are caused by occupational cancer, making up almost one-third of all work-related deaths. IMF News Release, 23 March 2007 • BWI news release • A union guide to cancer prevention (pdf) • Hazards Cancer Prevention Kit

Scientist played down work cancer risks A world-famous British scientist failed to disclose that he held a paid consultancy with a chemical company for more than 20 years while investigating cancer risks in the industry. Sir Richard Doll, the celebrated epidemiologist, was receiving a consultancy fee of $1,500 a day in the mid-1980s from chemical multinational Monsanto. Hazards magazine, 16 December 2006

Breathtaking Asbestos diseases kill thousands in the UK every year. But these are not just statistics, they are all stories of pain, hardship and bereavement. Hazards 94, May 2006 [pdf] • asbestos webpage

Burying the evidence Britain is facing a cancer epidemic which has been almost entirely missed in official statistics. Hazards reports on an occupational cancer crisis that is killing 50 people every day and calls for an urgent and fully resourced public health response. Hazards 92, October-December 2005

Who pays when cancer strikes? In 1977 Hazards warned that a Derbyshire PVC factory could have put workers at risk of developing cancer at the end of the century. It took local trade union research this year to confirm the factory's former workforce has been decimated by disease .Hazards 64, October-December 1998

Resources

Cancer/Zero Cancer: A union guide to prevention [pdf]

Hazards occupational cancer prevention kit

IMF occupational cancer webpages

BWI occupational cancer webpages (English)

Occupational cancers section added to HESA website more

Le site web HESA s'enrichit d'un dossier sur les cancers professionnels plus

US National Library of Medicine Haz-Map

IBB: cancer professionnel (français)

BWI fact sheet: Cancer in construction and timber trades [pdf]

Amicus occupational cancer webpage

OHS Reps @ Work cancer resources, Australia

Cancer resource on YouTube Two video clips warn that what you breathe, swallow and touch at work and where you live can seriously affect your chances of developing cancer – and this risk has increased dramatically as a consequence of industrialisation The rise in cancer - Part 1 • The rise in cancer - Part 2

No More Breast Cancer campaign

Labour Environmental Alliance Society (LEAS), Canada

New Jersey Department of Health carcinogens factsheet

Lowell Center for Sustainable Production

Prevent Cancer Coalition work and cancer webpages

Prevent Cancer Now A Canada- wide movement to eliminate the preventable causes of cancer

Chemicals Policy Initiative

Canadian Strategy for Cancer Control

Toxics Use Reduction Institute (TURI)

The Collaborative on Health and the Environment

European Environmental Agency

Women’s Environmental Network

Children’s Environmental Health Network

International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC)

International Society of Doctors for the Environment

Cancer Prevention and Education Society

News

Britain: Payouts for asbestos related lung cancers
The most common work-related cancer is lung cancer – but cases are rarely compensated because doctors miss the work link or blame other possible causes like lung cancer. In fact, thousands – and possibly tens of thousands – of cases of lung cancer each year are part or entirely due to workplace exposures.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Field Fisher Waterhouse news release • Risks 412 • 27 June 2009

Britain: Cricketers get skin cancer tests
Members of the Professional Cricketers’ Association are to receive regular screening for skin cancer. PCA, which represents the interests of players, organised the programme after one in seven county players were referred to specialists when potential melanomas were found during check-ups.
BBC News Online • Risks 407 • 23 May 2009

Australia: Night nurses warn of health fears
For the first time, the life-threatening physical and psychological effects of shift work are being used to push for bigger pay packets for nurses and midwives in New South Wales, Australia. The NSW Nurses Association launched its claim in the Industrial Relations Commission this week, calling in experts to cite studies linking shift work with higher rates of breast cancer, heart disease, miscarriage, clinical depression and divorce.
NSWNA news release • Sydney Morning Herald • Risks 405 • 9 May 2009

Britain: Sixth cancer death linked to university
A sixth person who worked in a Manchester University building used by Lord Rutherford, and contaminated by radiation and mercury, has died. Professor Tom Whiston, 70, a psychology lecturer, is the third to die from pancreatic cancer.
Manchester Evening News • BBC News Online • Global Unions cancer prevention campaign • Risks 405 • 9 May 2009

Europe: Cancer warning on night work
A top UK occupational health researcher has warned that the UK authorities are lagging behind their Scandinavian counterparts when it comes to action on night work hazards, linked to cancer and other chronic health problems. Stirling University’s Professor Andrew Watterson said the problem was being neither properly recognised nor addressed in the UK.
BBC News Online and The Investigation radio show • The Scotsman • Telegraph • Daily Mail • The Guardian • Risks 398 • 21 March 2009

Canada: Centre targets cancer prevention
A new research centre dedicated to identifying and eliminating exposure to cancer-causing substances in the workplace has opened in Toronto, Canada. Dr Aaron Blair, interim director of the new Occupational Cancer Research Centre said the new unit “is a major step in identifying carcinogens at workplaces and initiating preventive actions.”
Canadian Cancer Society news release • Toronto Star • Risks 397 • 14 March 2009

Britain: Employers ‘ignoring’ cancer risks
A manufacturing body has urged employers to better assess health risks in the workplace and has conceded firms are ignoring occupational cancer risks. Steve Pointer, head of health and safety policy at manufacturers' body the EEF, admitted some firms were too complacent and failed to protect their employees.
Personnel Today • TUC occupational cancer guide [pdf] •Global Unions cancer prevention campaign and prevention kit • Risks 397 • 14 March 2009

Britain: Official warning on nanotubes
The UK government’s workplace health and safety watchdog has called for “a precautionary approach” to the use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) information sheet says: “If their use cannot be avoided, HSE expects a high-level of control to be used,” adding: “It is good practice to label the material ‘Caution: substance not yet fully tested.”
Risk management of carbon nanotubes, HSE information sheet, March 2009 [pdf] • Risks 397 • 14 March 2009

Global: Warning on chemical cancers risk
A major report has warned that the global cancer burden has doubled in a generation and that too little attention is paid to potential occupational and environmental risks. The International Agency for Research on Cancer published its World Cancer Report 2008 last month.
World Cancer Report 2008, WHO/IARC [pdf] • IARC news release • Risks 396 • 7 March 2009

Global: Warning on chemical cancers risk
A major report has warned that the global cancer burden has doubled in a generation and that too little attention is paid to potential occupational and environmental risks. The International Agency for Research on Cancer published its World Cancer Report 2008 last month.
World Cancer Report 2008, WHO/IARC [pdf] • IARC news release • Risks 396 • 7 March 2009

Global: ConocoPhillips sued by cancer victims
Dozens of Norwegians, whose health was ruined working on the North Sea’s Ekofisk oilfield, are to take the giant oil company ConocoPhillips to court in the US. They believe the US multinational acted irresponsibly by not ensuring necessary maintenance and protection against chemicals which have resulted in cancer and other serious health problems.
Dagbladet.no • Risks 396 • 7 March 2009

Canada: Alberta probes work cancer link
The Alberta Cancer Board is teaming up with the Canadian province’s government to develop a new long-term strategy to track and prevent deadly occupational diseases. Dr Fred Ashbury, the province’s vice-president responsible for population health, said international research suggests up to 20 per cent of cancer deaths are associated with exposures to harmful chemicals at work, adding: “Because we can actually prevent these cancers from occurring - if we know exactly where they are and what exposures people are facing, we have an obligation to do something.”
Calgary Herald • Risks 396 • 7 March 2009

Global: Work cancers are misattributed to smoking
A new study suggests many lung cancers are routinely misattributed to smoking, when workplace and other exposures are to blame. Scientists have concluded much of the known much higher lung cancer rates in workers with less education cannot be explained by smoking.
JNCI media briefing • Gwenn Menvielle  and others. The role of smoking and diet in explaining educational inequalities in lung cancer incidence, JNCI, volume 101, pages 321-330, 2009 • HESA news report • Hazards work cancer prevention kit and cancer webpages • Risks 396 • 7 March 2009

Britain: Computer firms won’t chip in for cancer study
Britain’s top computer chip companies are refusing to spend less than the price of a couple of pints per employee to research the cancer risks in their industry. The UK’s multi-billion pound electronics industry, the world’s fifth largest with 25,000 employees, is defying the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and government who have asked the industry to contribute to the £600,000 report over four years.
UNITE news release • Risks 396 • 7 March 2009

Britain: One in 10 carpenters 'face asbestos death'
One in 10 UK carpenters born in the 1940s will die of asbestos-related lung cancer or mesothelioma, researchers have predicted. The researchers calculated that men born in the 1940s who worked as carpenters for more than 10 years before they reached 30 have a lifetime risk for mesothelioma alone of about one in 17.
HSE news release • Occupational, domestic and environmental mesothelioma risk in the British population: a case-control study, British Journal of Cancer • UCATT news release • HSE hidden killer campaign • Daily Mirror news item and Asbestos Timebomb campaign webpage • BBC News Online • Risks 396 • 7 March 2009

Britain: Factory staff at 'higher risk' of cancer
Scientists have uncovered higher rates of cancer at a rubber chemical plant in North Wales. Birmingham University researchers found that at least 10 people at Wrexham’s Flexsys factory in Cefn Mawr may have already suffered premature deaths as a result.
Daily Post • Evening Leader • BBC News Online •     
Tom Sorahan and others. Cancer risks in chemical production workers exposed to 2-mercaptobenzothiazole, Online First Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2009. doi: 10.1136/oem.2008.041400 • Risks 390 • 24 January 2009

Britain: Lafarge recalls cancer risk cement
Construction materials multinational Lafarge has recalled 280,000 bags of cement after discovering a batch contained high levels of cancer-causing chromium VI. In total, about 2,500 tonnes of the Blue Circle cement have been recalled.
Wiltshire Times • Contract Journal • Risks 388 • 10 January 2009

Britain: Browned off at cancer rebuff
Campaigners who petitioned 10 Downing Street urging the prime minister to take action to prevent breast cancer have said they are “sorely disappointed with the response.” The petition raised concerns about the failure of leading cancer charities to recognise the environmental and occupational causes of breast cancer.
Cancer campaign news release • Petition and response • Risks 386 • 13 December 2008

Italy: Study finds solvent cancer link
Exposure to the industrial solvent benzene increases a person's risk of developing multiple myeloma, according to new research. Adele Seniori Constantini of Italy’s Center for Study and Prevention of Cancer and her colleagues also found two other common workplace solvents in the same aromatic hydrocarbon group and often used as substitutes for benzene, xylene and toluene, were also tied to greater chronic lymphoid leukaemia risk.
Reuters • Risks 384 • 29 December 2008

Britain: Call for action on occupational cancers
Urgent government action is needed to avert the “major public health disaster” caused by occupational cancers, Stirling University researchers have warned. Writing in the European Journal of Oncology, Professor Andrew Watterson reports that more people die in Scotland from occupational cancers than from road accidents, murders and suicides combined.
University of Stirling news release • Andrew Watterson and others. Occupational cancer prevention in Scotland: a missing public health priority. European Journal of Oncology, volume 13, number 3, pages 161-170, 2008 • Hazards cancer resources • Sunday Times • Risks 382 • 15 November 2008

Britain: TUC calls for work cancer action
Employers who risk the future health of their employees by exposing them to cancer-causing chemicals at work should be prosecuted under UK safety laws, the TUC has said. The call came as the union body launched a campaign to raise awareness of the toxic chemicals and substances that can make workers ill sometimes years after leaving their jobs.
TUC news release • TUC occupational cancer guide [pdf] •Global Unions cancer prevention campaign and prevention kit • Risks 383 • 22 November 2008

Europe: Special report on occupational cancer
The latest newsletter of the European trade union health and safety think tank, HESA, includes a ‘Special report: Work-related cancers - Seeing through the smokescreen.’ The report includes details of French grassroots action against occupational cancers, asbestos litigation, using Google Earth to improve workplace conditions, cancers in Scotland’s Silicon Glen and an innovative Italian approach to addressing cancer risks.
HESA newsletter, No.34 • Global unions occupational cancer prevention campaign • Risks 380 • 1 November 2008

Britain: Work cancer victim’s call for witnesses
A West Yorkshire cancer survivor is urging his former work colleagues to come forward to provide information about his exposure to chemicals at work. Michael Savage, 65, from Halifax was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2005 after working as as a maintenance fitter by ICI, at the Leeds Road, Huddersfield site from 1972 to 1977.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 378 • 18 October 2009
Anyone who worked with Mr Savage at ICI Huddersfield during the 1970s or who was employed in the 824 Beta Nap building should contact Marion Voss on 08000 224 224.

Britain: University radiation cancer probe begins
An occupational health specialist is to investigate a possible cancer cluster in a Manchester University building. Professor David Coggon from the Medical Research Council will carry out an independent review of health risks at the university's Rutherford Building; the deaths from cancer of five people have been linked with the building, which is where Nobel prize-winning nuclear physicist Ernest Rutherford experimented with radon and polonium in 1908.
Risks 376 • 4 October 2008

Europe: Campaigners target worst chemicals
A coalition of environmental, consumer and union safety organisations has published a ‘Substitute It Now!’ list of ‘high concern’ chemicals. The aim of the ‘SIN List’ is to speed up implementation of REACH, the new EU chemicals law, by encouraging companies to make sound substitution decisions.
ETUI-REHS news item • SIN List 1.0 • ChemSec • Substitution 1.0 – the art of delivering toxic-free products [pdf] • Risks 375 • 27 September 2008

USA: Experts slam work cancer ‘manslaughter’
The US authorities are doing little to protect workers from occupational cancer and as a result are “bystanders to industrial manslaughter”, top experts have warned.
SUNY Downstate Medical Center news release • The Record • Industrial carcinogens: A need for action [pdf] • Contributions to the President’s Cancer Panel are available on the CHE website • Global Unions zero cancer campaign • Risks 374 • 20 September 2008

Britain: Leigh, 28, succumbs to asbestos cancer
The asbestos cancer mesothelioma has claimed the life of Leigh Carlisle, 28. Leigh, who was featured in a global Zero Occupational Cancer Campaign poster, died in hospital on 27 August, two years after being diagnosed with the incurable condition.
Zero Occupational Cancer Campaign website and poster • Risks 372 • 6 September 2008

New Zealand: Employers can help prevent skin cancer
New Zealand researchers have shown that outdoor workers are more likely to use sun protection measures if their workplace has a supportive approach to the issue. A study by the University of Otago found that outdoor workers who felt that their workplaces supported healthy behaviour were more likely to protect themselves from excessive sun exposure.
Health Promotion Journal of Australia • Risks 369 • 16 August 2008

Britain: PM urged to act on breast cancers
The prime minister is being asked to take action to prevent breast cancers caused by occupational and environmental exposures. Breast cancer campaigner Helen Lynn has launched an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street website.
Sign the prevent breast cancer petition – it takes less than a minute (UK residents only) • No more breast cancer campaign and the Hazards websites • Risks 362 • 28 June 2008

Australia: Board sick thanks to formaldehyde
Tom Connelly knows all about the symptoms of sick house syndrome. As a carpenter he comes into regular contact with the formaldehyde-rich building materials that create health problems for residents. Construction union CFMEU is campaigning for low formaldehyde building boards, to protect workers from allergies, irritation and cancer risks.
Sydney Morning Herald • Risks 359 • 7 June 2008

Britain: Court challenge to cancer payouts
A nine-week battle started this week in the High Court and will see insurance companies seek to evade liability for a large number of asbestos compensation payouts. The court will decide whether insurers are liable for damages from sufferers’ first exposure to asbestos, or from when they become ill.
Unite news release • The Guardian • BBC News Online • The Times • Risks 359 • 7 June 2008

Britain: UK bids to weaken formaldehyde standard
The UK government has attempted to undermine a proposed new European exposure limit to protect workers from a chemical linked to allergies and cancer. Commenting on new standards agreed by the European Commission’s Advisory Committee for Safety and Health at Work, the European Trade Union Confederation’s (ETUC) research arm, ETUI-REHS, reported: “The German and British governments actively supported the formaldehyde industry’s campaign, while the other governments were divided.”
ETUI-REHS news report • Fatal failings on formaldehyde, Burying the evidence, Hazards magazine, number 92, 2005 • Global Unions zero cancer campaign • Risks 359 • 7 June 2008

Britain: New occupational cancer resources
New resources on occupational cancer prevention have been made available online.
Stirling work cancer conference papers and CCOHS work cancer recognition and prevention course • Global Unions zero occupational cancers campaign • Risks 358 • 31 May 2008

Britain: Court rules asbestos causes lung cancer
A High Court ruling has confirmed the lung cancer and asbestos link. Although it has long been accepted asbestos causes lung cancer, proving the link in court has been difficult because, unlike mesothelioma, the condition can be caused by a wide range of other factors, including smoking.
Irwin Mitchell news release • John Shortell (executor of the estate of John Joseph Shortell deceased and litigation friend of Eileen Shortell) v BICAL construction Ltd (sued as successor to BIC Construction Ltd), in the High Court of Justice (Queen’s Bench Division), Liverpool District Registry, Case No: 7LV30059, 28 April – 1 May 2008 • Risks 357 • 24 May 2008

Global: ‘Asbestos warning’ on nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes might be as harmful as asbestos if inhaled, according to a study. A paper in the scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology reports that animal studies indicate that these long and very thin carbon molecules could cause mesothelioma, a cancer previously associated almost exclusively with asbestos exposure.
Craig A Poland and others. Carbon nanotubes introduced into the abdominal cavity of mice show asbestos-like pathogenicity in a pilot study. Nature Nanotechnology Online 20 May 2008. doi:10.1038/nnano.2008.111 [abstract] • The Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies news release • Risks 357 • 24 May 2008

Global: Solutions to the cancer epidemic
A new book, ‘Cancer: 101 solutions to a preventable epidemic,’ lays out a preventive response to cancer risks in a clear and accessible manner. The Canadian publication shows how you can stop cancer by eliminating the carcinogens in your home, your school, your community, and your workplace and how you can work with others to make the world safe for yourself and your children.
Cancer: 101 solutions to a preventable epidemic, Liz Armstrong, Guy Dauncey, and Anne Wordsworth. ISBN 978 0 86571 542 4. £12. New Society Publishers, Canada • Risks 356 • 17 May 2008

Britain: Weed killers cause work cancers
Common weed killers have been linked to cancers in exposed workers.
Claudine M Samanic and others. Occupational exposure to pesticides and risk of adult brain tumors, American Journal of Epidemiology, volume 167, pages 976-985, 2008 [abstract] • Reuters on the brain cancer risk • Katherine A McGlynn and others. Persistent organochlorine pesticides and risk of testicular germ cell tumors, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, volume 100, pages 663-671, 2008 [abstract] • Reuters on the testicular cancer risk • Global Unions zero cancer campaign • Risks 355 • 10 May 2008

Global: New union push on work cancers
Union bodies worldwide are increasing the pressure for an end to workplace cancer risks. Australian national union federation ACTU has launched a zero cancer campaign and says more than 1.5 million workers may be exposed to cancer-causing substances on the job without even knowing it.
BWI news release • Global Unions occupational cancer prevention campaign • Risks 354 • 3 May 2008

Australia: Union alert on formaldehyde cancers
Australia's biggest building union is calling on the federal government to start an urgent investigation into the use of formaldehyde in household products. CFMEU said formaldehyde poses a real cancer risk to workers and must be subject to stringent laws.
CFMEU news release • Atsuya Takagi and others. Induction of mesothelioma in p53+/- mouse by intraperitoneal application of multi-wall carbon nanotube, Journal of Toxicological Sciences, volume 33, number 1, pages 105-116, 2008 [pdf] • Risks 354 • 3 May 2008

Britain: Computer chip firms in cancer ‘fantasy’
The microelectronics industry is inhabiting an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ fantasy world when it comes to facing up to possible cancer risks to its staff, the union Unite has warned. It is pressing for the UK computer components and semiconductor industry to initiate industry-wide research into the risks.
Unite news release • Global Unions zero cancer campaign • Risks 354 • 3 May 2008

Britain: Study highlights cancer in hairdressers
Hairdressers probably face an increased risk of cancer because of the dyes and other chemicals they work with, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). A Lancet Oncology report of a IARC working group’s findings concludes. “Because of the few supporting findings by duration or period of exposure, the working group considered these data as limited evidence of carcinogenicity and re-affirmed occupational exposures of hairdressers and barbers as ‘probably carcinogenic to humans.’”
ETUI REHS news report • Robert Baan, Kurt Straif, Yann Grosse, Béatrice Secretan, Fatiha El Ghissassi, Véronique Bouvard, Lamia Benbrahim-Tallaa, Vincent Cogliano, on behalf of the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer Monograph Working Group. Carcinogenicity of some aromatic amines, organic dyes, and related exposures, The Lancet Oncology, volume 9, number 4, pages 322-323, April 2008 • Risks 352 • 19 April 2008

Britain: Lung cancer survivor gets payout
A man who developed lung cancer after being exposed to asbestos in the workplace has been compensated by his former employers. Widower, Joseph Douglas, 66, from Ellesmere Port has received £65,000 in damages after he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 351 • 12 April 2008

Britain: Experts highlight spreading cancer risks
A global epidemic of preventable industrial cancers is killing hundreds of thousands each year because governments and employers are failing to take simple and effective preventive action. Top cancer prevention experts and trade union officers and workplace reps from around the world, meeting in Scotland later this month will reveal the full extent of the problem and will call for the use of safer substances and processes and a phase out of the worst cancer-causing culprits.
Stirling University news release • Global union zero cancer campaign • Risks 351 • 12 April 2008

Global: Studies reveal neglected toll of work cancers
New studies have confirmed the numbers of workplace cancers has been massively under-estimated. Investigators from Massey University's Centre for Public Health Research in New Zealand say work-related cancers affect between 700 and 1,000 people a year in the country and kill 400 yet fewer than 40 cases a year are notified to the Labour Department.
Sunday Star Times • Massey University research outline • Global union zero cancer campaign • Risks 350 • 5 April 2008

USA: Pesticide exposure ups Parkinson’s risk
There is strong evidence that exposure to pesticides significantly increases the risk of Parkinson's disease, experts have concluded. A study of people with the neurological disease found that sufferers were more than twice as likely to report heavy exposure to pesticides over their lifetime as family members without the disease.
Dana B Hancock and others. Pesticide exposure and risk of Parkinson's disease: a family-based case-control study, BMC Neurology, volume 8:6, 2008, doi:10.1186/1471-2377-8-6, abstract and full paper [pdf] • Risks 350 • 5 April 2008

Australia: Brain cancer linked to mobile phone use
A top Australian neurosurgeon has warned the world's heavy reliance on mobile phones could be a major threat to human health. Vini Khurana, who conducted a 15-month “critical review” of the link between mobile phones and malignant brain tumours, said using mobiles for more than 10 years could more than double the risk of brain cancer.
Mobile phone-brain tumour, Public Health Advisory, www.brain-surgery.us
Sydney Morning Herald • Risks 350 • 5 April 2008

Global: Conference to work out work cancer solution
Occupational and Environmental Cancer Prevention - from research to policy to action at international, national and workplace levels, Friday, 25 April 2008, University of Stirling, Scotland.
Further information, including conference programme, contact details and fees (including union reductions) • Risks 350 • 5 April 2008

USA: Work cancer’s deadly history
A new book says for much of its history, the USA’s cancer war has been fighting the wrong battles, with the wrong weapons, against the wrong enemies. ‘The secret history of the war on cancer’, a heavyweight publication by US academic Devra Davis and described in a Lancet review as “a rattling good read”, says while campaigns have targeted the disease, they’ve singularly failed to address the causes.
The secret history of the war on cancer. Devra Davis. ISBN 978 0 465 01566 5 2. £16.99. Basic Books • Risks 345 • 1 March 2008

Britain: More evidence on wood dust cancers
Wood dust exposure at work greatly increases the risk of a range of cancers, a study has found. A study has linked occupational exposure to wood dust to “other upper aero digestive tract and respiratory (UADR) cancers”, with the researchers finding “regular wood dust exposure was associated with a statistically significant increased risk of 32 per cent for all UADR cancers”.
Vijay Jayaprakash and others. Wood dust exposure and the risk of Upper Aero-Digestive and Respiratory Cancers in males, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Published Online First: 8 January 2008. doi:10.1136/oem.2007.036210 [abstract] • Global union zero cancer campaign • Occupational and Environmental Cancer Prevention - from research to policy to action at international, national and workplace levels, Friday, 25 April 2008, University of Stirling, Scotland. Further information, including conference programme, contact details and fees (including union reductions) • Risks 345 • 1 March 2008

Global: Zero occupational cancer conference, 25 April, Scotland
As a contribution to the global trade union zero occupational cancer campaign, an international conference will address a major threat to public health: the toll taken by occupational and environmental cancers. The 25 April event to be hosted by Stirling University, Scotland and supported by unions in the UK and across the world, will feature top union, campaign and academic experts from Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Finland, the UK and USA.
Occupational and Environmental Cancer Prevention - from research to policy to action at international, national and workplace levels, Friday, 25 April 2008, University of Stirling, Scotland
Further information, including conference programme, contact details and fees (including union reductions) • Risks 342 • 9 February 2008

Britain: Welder gets lung cancer payout
A former welder diagnosed with lung cancer after being exposed to asbestos has been paid provisional compensation. The unnamed former welder, 73, received the £20,000 payout after being diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2006.
Global unions zero work cancer campaign • Risks 340 • 26 January 2008

USA: Work cancer protection inadequate
A report produced by the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), calls for tighter controls on chemicals including workplace carcinogens. The report found 109 chemicals recognised in California as cancer-causing are not regulated as occupational carcinogens, with 44 of these not even having a permissible exposure limit for the workplace.
Occupational Health Hazard Risk Assessment Project for California. Complete OEHHA technical report [pdf] • Executive summary [pdf] • Risks 339 • 19 January 2008

Europe: Patchy progress on better Euro laws
Leading Socialist Euro MPs have celebrated European Parliament approval this week of a report calling for new measures to protect the health and safety of Europe's workers. They expressed shock, however, after Conservatives and Liberals blocked inclusion of clauses calling for action on crystalline silica, a cancer-causing substance to which over 3 million workers in the European Union (EU) are routinely exposed, and on nanotechnology risks.
European Parliament resolution of 15 January 2008 on the Community strategy 2007–2012 on health and safety at work (2007/2146(INI)) • Risks 339 • 19 January 2008

Europe: Euro MPs call for work disease action
Euro MPs have called for measures to protect workers from a new generation of health threats at work. The all-party European Parliament employment committee wants a Europe-wide drive against cancer-causing exposures in the workplace as well as measures to combat musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain and repetitive strain injuries.
Socialist Group of MEPs (PES) news release • HESA news report • European Parliament Committee on Employment and Social Affairs report [pdf] • Risks 338 • 12 January 2008

Australia: Action call on shiftwork cancer risk
One of Australia's biggest unions has called for a review of working hours after an International Agency for Research on Cancer study found people who work night shifts have a higher risk of contracting cancer. AWU national health and safety officer, Yossi Berger, said the “frightening report” had confirmed the union's worst fears, and added: “You can earn a lot more money working these shifts but you may find yourself using the money on a designer oxygen tent.”
AWU news release • IARC news release [pdf] • Global union zero cancer campaign • Risks 338 • 12 January 2008

Australia: Firefighters welcome cancer action
A firefighters’ union in Australia has welcomed an official investigation of the cancer risks linked to the job. The government in Australia Capital Territory (ACT) – Australia has a state as well as federal government system - is to set up a working group to investigate possible links between escalating cancer rates among firefighters and their workplace.
Canberra Times • US firefighters' union IAFF webpages on presumption laws in the US and Canada • Global union zero occupational cancer campaign • 22 December 2007

Britain: Work lung cancer risks are not declining
If you thought workplace exposure to the dust, fumes and chemicals that cause lung cancer was a think of the past you’d be wrong. An international study “suggests that exposure to occupational lung carcinogens is still a problem, with such exposures producing moderate to large increases in risk.”
F Veglia, P Vineis, K Overvad and others. Occupational exposures, environmental tobacco smoke, and lung cancer, Epidemiology, volume 18, number 6, pages 769-775, 2007 [abstract] • Global trade union occupational cancer/zero cancer campaign • 15 December 2007

Global: Shiftwork linked to cancer
Shiftwork has been recognised officially as a “probable” cause of cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer arm of the World Health Organisation, has said it will classify overnight shift work as a probable carcinogen after evidence was considered by a meeting of experts; IARC experts also ranked occupational exposure as a painter as carcinogenic to humans and as a firefighter as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
IARC news release [pdf] • Kurt Staif and others. Carcinogenicity of shift-work, painting, and fire-fighting The Lancet Oncology, volume 8, number 12, pages 1065-1066, December 2007 • Findings to be published by IARC next year, Shift-work, painting and fire-fighting, IARC monograph, volume 98 • Global union zero cancer campaign • 8 December 2007

Britain: Study exposes cancer control complacency
A disastrous failure by chemical firms and the Health and Safety Executive to control one of the best known workplace carcinogens has been revealed by an HSE survey. HSE assessed occupational exposures to the industrial chemical MbOCA, which can cause bladder cancer and which has been linked to other cancers, and found controls and personal protective equipment (PPE) were inadequate, training was poor and exposure levels were unacceptable.
HSE publication alert • A survey of occupational exposure to MbOCA in the polyurethane elastomer industry in Great Britain 2005-2006, HSE [pdf] • Global union occupational cancer/zero cancer campaign • 1 December 2007

Global: ‘Obligation to act’ on work cancers
Urgent action must be taken to address the toll of workplace and environmental cancers, a new report has concluded. Researchers from the Lowell Center for Sustainable Development in the USA who reviewed new evidence on cancer risks, said their findings “demonstrate why environmental and occupational cancers should be given serious consideration by policymakers, individuals, and institutions concerned with cancer prevention.”
Environmental and occupational causes of cancer: New Evidence, 2005-2007, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, 2007, executive summary and full report [pdf] • Toxic Burdens Blog • 17 November 2007

Britain: Cancer payout for asbestos hug woman
A Devon woman who developed an incurable asbestos-related cancer from hugging her father as a child has settled a damages claim. The Ministry of Defence (MoD), which owned Devonport Dockyard when Debbie Brewer's father worked there in the 1960s, settled with a six-figure sum.
BBC News Online • Daily Mail • 17 November 2007

France: Action call on work-related cancers
The authorities in the French district of Seine-Saint-Denis, north-east of Paris, have issued a call for national action on work-related cancers. The petition’s sponsors, which includes unions and high profile officials of public, health, research and safety bodies, claim that a manual worker between the ages of 45 and 54 is at four times greater risk of dying from cancer than a same-age top manager.
ETUI-REHS summary • Full background and petition document (in French) • Global union zero cancer campaign • 3 November 2007

Australia: Neglected toll of workplace cancers
There is no mention of cancer caused by occupational exposure in Australia’s national cancer prevention plan - it is instead focused on smoking, obesity and melanoma. Labouring under the misapprehension that occupational cancer in a modern economy is rare, or that occupational health and safety regulations protect those exposed, governments have taken a hands-off approach as 1.5 million Australian workers are exposed to cancer-causing agents every year.
Sydney Morning Herald • ACTU zero cancer campaign • Global trade union occupational cancer/zero cancer campaign • Hazards work cancer prevention kit • 27 October 2007

Europe: Union dismay at EMF law delay
A European law intended to protect workers from possible health risks caused by electromagnetic fields, is to be delayed for four years. The TUC believes the MRI issue could have been dealt with without shelving what was intended solely as a workplace health and safety measure - electromagnetic radiation has been linked to high rates of breast cancer in flight attendants and to cancers and other health effects in other groups of workers, including railway staff and microchip workers.
The Guardian • BBC News Online • Trade union cancer campaign • 27 October 2007

Global: Mobile phones linked to brain cancer
New research suggests mobile phone usage for more than a decade greatly increases the risk of cancer. The study found that long-term users – and the phones have become a required tool for many workers - had double the chance of getting a malignant tumour on the side of the brain where they held the handset.
Lennart Hardell and others. Long-term use of cellular phones and brain tumours: increased risk associated with use for equal to or greater than 10 years, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 64, pages 626-632, 2007 [abstract] • 13 October 2007

Britain: Losing the workplace cancer fight
Britain is seriously underestimating the risk of contracting cancer at work, according to new research. A new study by Stirling University has found the figure could be four times higher than the official estimate and says HSE's recommendations for action range “from complacent to non-existent.”
Stirling University/Hazards magazine news release • Rory O’Neill, Simon Pickvance and Andrew Watterson. Burying the evidence: How Great Britain is prolonging the occupational cancer epidemic, International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (IJOEH), volume 13, number 4, pages 432-440, October-December 2007 • Hazards cancer webpages and work cancer prevention kit • 13 October 2007

Britain: Smoke clears for bar staff
England’s smoking ban has led to healthier workplaces in the hospitality industry, according to new research. In the first report into the impact of the English ban, which was introduced in July, scientists discovered firm evidence of its benefits.
CRUK news release • BBC News Online • Hazards smoking news and resources • 6 October 2007

USA: Industry obstructs cancer progress
Documents linking industrial chemicals to cancer are being kept from the public gaze as a result of industry lobbying, a new report has claimed. OMB Watch says its report, ‘An attack on cancer research’, shows how industry has “repeatedly misused the Data Quality Act (DQA) to suppress important cancer-related information.”
OMB Watch news release • An attack on cancer research: Industry's obstruction of the National Toxicology Program [pdf] • Hazards occupational cancer webpages and Work cancer prevention kit • 22 September 2007

UK ‘lags behind’ on cancer deaths
Cancer survival rates in the UK are trailing behind much of the continent and in some cases struggling to stay ahead of eastern European countries despite significantly more funding. A damning online editorial published alongside the findings in the Lancet Oncology medical journal suggests the cancer plans introduced in England in 2000 and Scotland in 2001 are not working and that remedying the problem would take a fundamental overhaul of NHS services.
BBC News Online • Franco Berrino and others. Survival for eight major cancers and all cancers combined for European adults diagnosed in 1995–99: results of the EUROCARE-4 study, Lancet Oncology Online, published online 21 August 2007. DOI:10.1016/S1470-2045(07)70245-0 • Hazards occupational cancer webpages and new Work cancer prevention kit • 25 August 2007

Britain: Cancer increase highlights work risks
A study by Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and the UK Association of Cancer Registries (UKACR) has identified increases in a range of cancers. The most common cancers identified in the new CRUK figures have strong occupational links.
Cancer Research UK cancer statistics • Hazards occupational cancer webpages and Work cancer prevention kit • 18 August 2007

Canada: Payouts for smelter cancer deaths
The families of 10 former workers at a Canadian smelter and who killed by occupational cancers are eligible for compensation, the body responsible for payouts has ruled. The Quebec workplace accident commission determined the workers in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Quebec, Alcan smelter were exposed to dangerous levels of carcinogens which ultimately led to cancer.
CAW news release • CBC News • 4 August 2007

Europe: Excellent work cancer campaign resources
The European trade union safety thinktank HESA has published an excellent online occupational cancer resource. HESA says it is safe to say that cancer is now the main cause of ‘death by working conditions’ in Europe, adding this cancer epidemic is part of a major health and safety challenge facing workers.
HESA occupational cancers webpages • Hazards cancer webpages and work cancer prevention kit • 4 August 2007

Australia: Concern at new ABC breast cancer case
Australian journalists' union MEAA wants broadcaster ABC to extend its cancer cluster investigation to other Brisbane sites after yet another breast cancer diagnosis for a Toowong studio former employee. Media union MEAA Queensland secretary, David Waters, called for a register of past and present employees for health monitoring purposes, adding: “There is universal concern amongst ABC Brisbane employees about this cancer cluster… Yes, we have seen 15 cases of breast cancer since 1994 but all staff are concerned about cancer and that extends to men.”
Sydney Morning Herald • Work cancer prevention kit • 21 July 2007

Britain: More work cancers than officials admit
Occupational cancers are killing more people that published official estimates, new figures show. Research commissioned by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and presented to an HSE-organised seminar last month concluded six cancers alone were responsible for 7,380 deaths a year. HSE’s current estimate for all occupational cancers, published on its website, is 23 per cent lower, putting the figure for all workplace cancers at just 6,000 deaths a year.
Risks 314, 7 July 2007 • Hazards work and cancer webpages • 7 July 2007

Britain: Report criticises HSE ‘complacency’ on cancer
Work-related cancers will claim thousands of lives each year for a further working generation as a result of the “shocking complacency” of the government’s health and safety watchdog, a new report is warning. ‘Burying the evidence’ says the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has neither the resources nor the strategy to tackle the workplace carcinogen exposures killing at least 12,000 people each year.
Cancer Prevention Coalition news release and full report, Burying the evidence: How the UK is prolonging the occupational cancer epidemic • HSE news release • 30 June 2007

USA: Outrage at work cancer report delay
A Minnesota state senator and the United Steelworkers union have called for investigations into a state Health Department delay in releasing information about deadly cancers in Iron Range miners. Bob Bratulich, director of District 11 of the United Steelworkers, said: “It is unconscionable, unethical, and probably criminal for a public agency to withhold information about a potential health risk to workers.”
Workday Minnesota • Mankato Press Press • 23 June 2007

USA: Bullets, bombs and nuclear power plants
Unlike gunfire, emissions from a nuclear plant cannot be heard, tasted, seen or sensed as they are released. Twenty-four hours a day, a nuclear power plant, quietly running, gives off some 200-plus radioactive isotopes that fall to earth at various rates, depending upon their weight and size and the wind direction.
San Francisco Bayview • 19 June 2007

France: Brain tumour link to pesticides
Agricultural workers exposed to high levels of pesticides have a raised risk of brain tumours, research suggests. All agricultural workers exposed to pesticides had a slightly elevated brain tumour risk, the French study found, but the paper published online by the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine reported the risk was more than doubled for those exposed to the highest levels.
Dorothée Provost and others. Brain tumours and exposure to pesticides: a case-control study in, southwestern France, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, published online 30 May 2007; doi: 10.1136/oem.2006.028100 [abstract] • BBC News Online • 9 June 2007

Australia: Qantas in chrome cancer payout
Australian airline Qantas could face tens of millions of dollars in compensation after a dying aircraft maintenance worker was awarded almost Aus$1 million (£0.41m) for lung cancer he contracted after working for the airline. Sheet metal worker Philip Johnson, who worked at the airline's Sydney Airport base between 1971 and 1991, was diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago, the condition deemed to have been caused by the inhalation of hexavalent chromium, a known cause of occupational cancer.
The Daily Telegraph • Global union cancer campaign • 2 June 2007

Switzerland: Magnetic fields linked to rail cancers
Railway workers exposed to extremely low frequency magnetic fields have an elevated risk of certain blood cancers, new study findings suggest. In a study of more than 20,000 Swiss railway workers who were followed for 30 years, researchers found that certain workers' risk of myeloid leukaemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma climbed in tandem with their exposure to these fields, with train drivers most at risk.
Dr Martiin Röösli and others. Leukaemia, brain tumours and exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields: cohort of Swiss railway employees, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, published online 24 May 2007; doi: 10.1136/oem.2006.030270 [abstract] • Hazards prevent work cancer kit • 2 June 2007

Britain: Cancers killed rubber worker
A 43-year-old man who inhaled dangerous chemicals whilst working in the rubber industry died from a form of cancer only usually seen in pensioners, an inquest has heard. Timothy Kirkby died at Derbyshire Royal Infirmary on 20 July last year; he had cancer in a kidney and in his bladder and urethra.
Burton Mail • Global union prevent cancer campaign • 26 May 2007

South Africa: Benzene ‘harms refinery staff’
A study at a fuel refinery in South Africa has found that benzene in petroleum causes high levels of DNA damage in refinery workers, distribution workers, tank drivers and office staff alike. The Wits School of Public Health study found that continued exposure of workers to the known workplace carcinogen reduced the ability of their bodies to repair the damage to DNA, the body’s genetic code.
Business Day • Hazards cancer prevention news and resources • 19 May 2007

Global: Moves to tackle toxic wood boards
Wood-based boards that can lead to workplace exposures to a mix of two known carcinogens pose an unacceptable risk, campaigners have warned. Australian construction union CFMEU says it may consider a ban on imports of MDF - medium density fibreboard – because of concerns about formaldehyde risks, while California legislators have introduced laws limiting the amount of the toxin in the boards.
CFMEU construction safety newsletter - [pdf] • US formaldehyde-free campaign • Hazards/Global union cancer prevention campaign • 19 May 2007

France: Chemical firm liable for kidney cancers
The world’s third largest animal feed supplement producer has been found liable for kidney cancers suffered by its staff. A social security tribunal in Moulin, France ruled in April that Adisseo had been grossly negligent and ordered the company to pay out compensation of 50,000 to 60,000 euros (£34,000-41,000) to each of nine current or former workers suffering from kidney cancer.
ETUI-REHS news report • 12 May 2007

Canada: Ontario tackles firefighting cancers
Firefighters deserve compensation for fire-related illnesses and the Ontario government is working to ensure they get the help they need, provincial premier Dalton McGuinty has said. The proposed amendment to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act in Canada’s most populous province would allow the government to make regulations affecting Ontario's firefighters that would identify eight types of cancer as presumed to be work-related and would include heart attacks as presumed to be work-related if they occur within 24 hours of a fire.
Ontario Office of the Premier news release • Hazards cancer prevention resources • 12 May 2007

Britain: Car union in offer to cancer families
Union leaders want to meet grieving families of men who died of cancer contracted while working at Southampton's Ford factory. The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) has offered to support relatives if they take legal action, after an investigation by local paper the Daily Echo revealed 21 cases of oesophageal cancer among workers at the Swaythling factory - more than three times the number of cases investigated in an independent study commissioned by Ford.
Daily Echo • Work Cancer Prevention Kit, including guide to combating the top 10 workplace cancer concerns • 12 May 2007

Hazards cancer news archive