Miners exposed to high levels of diesel exhaust face a dramatically increased lung cancer risk, a long delayed official US study has found. “This landmark study has informed on the lung cancer risks for underground mine workers, but the findings suggest that the risks may extend to other workers exposed to diesel exhaust in the United States and abroad, and to people living in urban areas where diesel exhaust levels are elevated,” said Joseph F Fraumeni Jr, director of the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. The industry and political lobby was accused of delaying the findings and stalling related preventive measures.

Silverman DT, Samaniac CM, Lubin JH and others. The diesel exhaust in miners study: a nested case-control study of lung cancer and diesel exhaust, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2 March 2012. doi:10.1093/jnci/djs034 [pdf].

Attfield MD, Schlieff PL, Lubin JH and others. The diesel exhaust in miners study: a cohort mortality study with emphasis on lung cancer. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2 March 2012. doi:10.1093/jnci/djs035 [pdf].

Rushton L. The problem with diesel, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 2 March 2012. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djs137 [pdf]
NCI news release and Q&A on the diesel exhaust and miners study. The Pump Handle. Hazards magazine. Risks 546.

‘This man knows all about cancer’ accuses the UK of ignoring an occupational cancer epidemic and calls for far greater efforts to be put into preventing work-related cancer deaths. HSE’s systematically disappears real cancers from its statistics, by dismissing or ignoring risks by job, by industry or by substance. The report notes: “HSE has instead adopted a ‘not me’ strategy. From formaldehyde to trichloroethylene to wood preservatives to toxic metals like lead, HSE responded to alerts about cancer risks with a defence of the status quo. In some cases, like formaldehyde, its first instinct was to back the industry ‘no problem’ line.” For nearly three decades, HSE stood by a ‘best available estimate’ of 6,000 UK occupational cancer deaths a year, based on an industry-friendly 1981 US paper. In 2008, this figure was revised up to around 8,000 deaths and over 13,500 new cases a year, when HSE finally got around to attempting a genuine UK based analysis. However, even this repeated errors in earlier analyses, and systematically excluded swathes of cancers from the body count.

This man knows all about cancer, Hazards, number 117, 2012. Alliance for Cancer Prevention blog.

A beryllium producer and trade union have made a joint appeal for a stringent legally-binding exposure limit for the highly dangerous metal. The call from the United Steelworkers (USW) and Materion Brush came as they announced they had reached agreement on a model beryllium standard and had sent it to the official Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as a joint recommendation.

Risks 543.

Cancers caused by the jobs we do kill one person in the UK every 30 minutes around the clock, a TUC report has revealed. ‘Occupational cancer – a workplace guide’ says the prevention of workplace cancer has a much lower profile in the workplace than preventing injuries, “despite the fact that only 220 to 250 workers die each year as a result of an immediate injury as opposed to the 15,000 to 18,000 that die from cancer.” Urging more preventive efforts, the TUC noted: “Following pressure from unions, a large number of employers have managed to substitute cancer-causing chemicals with safer ones. Examples include trichloroethylene as a cleaner for metal, cancer-causing inks in printing, and formaldehyde and insulating foams in furniture.”

Occupational cancer – a workplace guide, TUC, February 2012 [pdf].
Occupational cancer – the figures: briefing for activists, February 2012. Risks 542,.

Publication of a landmark US government study probing whether diesel engine exhaust causes lung cancer in miners — already 20 years in the making — was delayed by industry and congressional insistence on seeing study data and documents before the public does.

Washington Post, 6 February 2012. Risks 542.

Progress on a new safer official US workplace exposure limit for cancer-causing silica dust has been frustrated by the business lobby for over a decade. But a bid by the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to finally introduce stricter controls on silica has hit a second brick wall – a review process run by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that has stalled the ready-to-go standard since 14 February 2011. The National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, which advises the Labor Department, issued a statement in December 2011 saying it was ‘deeply distressed’ that the proposed new regulations had been under review for so long. ‘The current standard is many decades old and is insufficient to protect workers from this serious occupational health hazard,’ the advisory committee noted. ‘The silica rule delay is extraordinary and without explanation, and there is no indication as to when the review will be concluded.’

Union of Concerned Scientists news release. NPR Morning Edition. Huffington Post. AFL-CIO Now blog. Risks 541.

An International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) monograph concluded “there is sufficient evidence in humans that asbestos causes mesothelioma and cancer of the lung, larynx, and ovary.”

International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) monograph 100c, January 2012.

This report published by the European Commission examines the test methods for this group of chemicals and notes evidence of increases in many endocrine-related disorders in humans has strengthened since the 1990s. The issue is important especially with regard to breast cancer and prostate cancer, which have been linked in recent studies to occupation (or parental occupation) and exposure to a range of endocrine disrupters.

Andreas Kortenkamp, Olwenn Martin, Michael Faust and others. State of the art assessment of endocrine disrupters: final report. Brussels: European Commission, Directorate General, Environment, 2011.

Lawyers are warning of a ‘ticking timebomb’ as workers exposed to carcinogenic chemicals from the 1950s to the 1970s develop potentially fatal cancers. Pauline Chandler from the law firm Pannone said “my fear is that workers in a number of industries, including; the chemicals sector, paint production, rubber manufacture and pigments and dyestuffs production, will develop cancers and be unaware that they are related to their past employment.” The Health and Safety Executive’s ‘conservative’ 2007 estimates indicate that over 500 people develop occupational bladder cancer each year, and around 250 people die of the work-related condition.

Pannone Solicitors. The Guardian. Risks 536,.

Six major international clothing brands have announced a ‘joint roadmap’ intended to dramatically reduce the use of hazardous chemicals in their supply chains. Adidas Group, C&A, H&M, Li Ning, Nike Inc and Puma say the initiative will lead the apparel and footwear industry towards zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020. The initiative is a direct response to ‘Dirty Laundry’, a July 2011 report from Greenpeace which exposed toxic use and related pollution in production facilities in China. The roadmap commits the firms to identify all chemicals used in textile manufacturing, a phase-out of hazardous chemicals and to projects to encourage sector wide chemical disclosure.

ChemSec news report. Dirty Laundry, Greenpeace, July 2011. Risks 535.