Two major US reports published shortly before the 1981 Doll/Peto report – one from US government organisations  and another backed by employers’ organisations – put the occupational cancer contribution at least 20 per cent of all cancers, with the industry-backed report conceding occupational cancer constituted “a public health catastrophe”.

Bridbord K and others. Estimates of the fraction of cancer in the United States related to occupational factors. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1978.

Proctor R. Cancer Wars. New York: Basic Books, 1995 (includes reference to the early industry-backed estimate).