A large scale study in China found an increased risk of blood cancers in exposed workers. The study involved over 70,000 workers exposed to benzene. Painters, printers and workers involved in the manufacture of footwear, paint and various chemicals were investigated. The researchers found an increased incidence of leukaemia among these workers and also an increase in malignant lymphoma. “Employment in benzene-associated occupations in China is associated with a wide spectrum of myelogenous and lymphocytic malignant diseases and related disorders,” the paper concluded.
Dockers’ union T&G (now part of Unite) issued an urgent warning in 1996 to members working with nuts. The union said it was concerned that imported nuts were frequently contaminated with aflatoxins, a cause of liver cancer. The union said that in the year up to May 1996 one in every four containers of groundnuts, pistachios, walnuts and cashew nuts tested by Southampton Port Authorities had aflatoxin contamination above legally permitted levels. Union members working on the docks first became concerned when environmental health officers examining nut cargoes appeared wearing positive pressure respirators. The Health and Safety Executive has told workers that paper masks were good enough.
Aflatoxins in peanut dust, T&G Docks Section circular, 1996.
A Hazards magazine factsheet warned that many cancers are caused by preventable workplace exposures. It noted a wide range of substances, processes, biological agents, environments and work practices were linked to occupational cancer. Hazards also noted that UK workers may be exposed unawares. Labels on a silica based cavity fill compound used by members of the construction union UCATT warned it “may cause skin, eye and respiratory tract irritation.” When the label fell off it revealed a US label underneath. This had the additional warning: “IARC has concluded that crystalline silica may cause cancer based on animal data with limited evidence in humans.” Silica is now an IARC recognised cause of lung cancer in humans.
Work causes cancer, Hazards, number 54, January-March 1996.
Hazards magazine in 1996 accused the Health and Safety Executive of a “deadly decade of neglect.” In 1984, a ‘Goodbye dusty’ asbestos initiative was set to be the regulator’s biggest ever campaign. Posters were printed and ready to distribute to every building site in the country. They told workers to ‘STOP WORK!’ rather than risk exposure because “asbestos dust can kill.” But then the campaign was axed. Hazards says HSE “hastily withdrew the poster, following pressure from the construction industry.” It was a costly mistake in every sense. HSE backed research in 1995 revealed tens of thousands of construction workers would die as a result of exposure to asbestos, with at least a quarter of all deaths from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma in construction workers. Hazards noted: “At the press conference launching the new, 1995, construction asbestos campaign, HSE’s Peter Graham resurrected the warning HSE had been too craven to stand by a decade before. ‘If you think a substance is asbestos, stop work.’ This long postponed warning will come too late for some.”
The long goodbye, Hazards, number 53, October-December 1995.
A study of workers in the Danish printing industry identified over 3,000 substances used in printing and related industries. Nearly 23 per cent of the products contained known or suspected carcinogens, the paper noted. The researchers investigated cancers in those who had worked in the printing industry during 1970. Over 15,000 men and 3,500 women were included in the study. Cancer of the liver, lungs, kidneys and bladder were all more frequent among male print workers, compared to the general population. Different types of cancers were linked to different jobs. The cancer sites correspond with those associated with many of the solvents and dyes encountered in printing. The authors conclude: “Our results indicate, in line with a previous study from Manchester, that work with rotary letterpress printing was associated with an increased risk of lung cancer. The inconsistent results from studies on bladder cancer in printing workers may point to a risk confined to a certain subgroup. The sixfold risk of primary liver cancer in Danish lithographers warrants studies in other countries.”
The TUC called in 1995 for companies in the chemicals, rubber and plastics industry to establish a compensation fund for victims of bladder cancer caused by workplace chemical exposures. Chemicals including MbOCA, some dyes and other groups of chemicals used in these industries have been linked to bladder cancer. The TUC also called on employers to contact past employees who might have been exposed, and provide them with information and support. It also said there should be a compulsory registration scheme.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) backed research findings published in March 2005 concluded at least 150,000 people in the UK would die from asbestos-related disease in the following 30 years. It revealed that “24 per cent of male mesothelioma deaths are listed under construction-related occupations… but the proportion due to exposure in the construction industry is probably considerably higher.” The paper noted: “These data indicate that mesothelioma deaths will continue to increase for at least 15 and more likely 25 years. For the worst affected cohorts – men born in the 1940s – mesothelioma may account for around 1 per cent of all deaths. Asbestos exposure at work in construction and building maintenance will account for a large proportion of these deaths, and it is important that such workers should be aware of the risks and take appropriate precautions.” The researchers concluded that “building workers, such as carpenters, plumbers and electricians and other workers involved in building renovation, maintenance and demolition may still suffer exposure… A public information campaign to alert such workers to the potential dangers seems justified.” A decade before, HSE has axed a ready-to-go campaign to do that, after coming under pressure from the construction industry (see The long goodbye, above).
Alan Dalton, the author of ‘Asbestos: Killer dust’, warned in Hazards magazine that Health and Safety Executive (HSE) backed research had exposed “how the authorities continue to turn a blind eye to the biggest workplace killer of all time.” He noted: “Underlying the UK’s complacent approach to asbestos is the fact that it is still cheaper to kill than to prevent asbestos-related diseases. Until very recently many ‘names’ at Lloyds made millions of pounds out of the cheap insurance cover they were selling to asbestos companies. Now they are getting their just rewards: bankruptcy.” He cited a 1994 investigation of the Lloyds’ insurance “catastrophe,” which included a chapter on the “fatal legacy” of asbestos.
Evil asbestos, Hazards, number 50, 1995. Also see: Adam Raphael. Ultimate risk – the inside story of the Lloyds’ catastrophe, Bantam Press, 1994. ISBN 10: 0593026934.
There is a marked social class bias in occupational cancer, this report concludes. Author Peter Infante calls for a “much greater national effort” to reduce exposures, adding: “Our failure to make that effort is resulting in a disproportionate (and preventable) cancer burden being borne by blue collar workers.” Infante notes that about 95 per cent of causes of lung cancer were identified in workplace studies, and if you discount drugs over threequarters of all causes of cancer were identified in studies of workers.
A paper in the Mt Sinai Journal of Medicine concluded the highly influential 1981 Doll/Peto occupational cancer estimate was too low and added it failed to take account of the limitations of the data on which it was based.
Landrigan PJ, Baker DB. Clinical recognition of occupational and environmental disease, Mt Sinai Journal of Medicine, volume 62, number 5, pages 406-411, 1995.
Also: Landrigan PJ, Marsowitz SB, Nicholson WJ, Baker DB. Cancer prevention in the workplace. In: Greenwald P, Kramer BS, Weed DL, eds. Cancer prevention and control. Marcel Dekker Inc, pages 393-410, 1995.
A continually-updated, annotated bibliography of occupational cancer research produced by Hazards magazine, the Alliance for Cancer Prevention and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
