This groundbreaking study investigated cancer patients in three hospitals in an industrial suburb of Paris that has an unusually high incidence of cancers to identify those who had been exposed to occupational carcinogens. The authors also sought to assess the adequacy of the French system for their compensation and to develop priorities for prevention. In 2002–2003, 175 patients were interviewed, of whom 127 provided job histories. Of these, 74 per cent of the 107 men interviewed and 70 per cent of the 20 women interviewed were deemed likely to have occupational cancers, half of them following exposures to at least three different carcinogens. The network team prepared claims for the 26 patients whose cancers were potentially compensable. The majority were not eligible for compensation because of the limitations of the compensation system, rather than any question about causation. Of the 26 that fitted the compensation criteria, 21 – most of whom had cancers attributable to asbestos – received compensation. Suggestions for improving the system for compensation of occupational cancer victims in France were offered.

Annie Thebaud-Mony, Parvine Badouraly, Hania Ben Abdesselam and others. Occupational cancer in a Paris suburb: First results of a pro-active research project in Seine Saint-Denis, International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, volume 11, pages 263-275, 2005.