People who are routinely exposed to lead at work are far more likely to die from brain cancer than people who are not exposed. The US study found the death rate among people with jobs that potentially exposed them to lead was 50 percent higher than unexposed people, and the number of deaths was larger than in many previous studies.

University of Rochester news release. Edwin van Wijngaarden and Mustafa Dosemeci. Brain cancer mortality and potential occupational exposure to lead: Findings from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study, 1979-1989, International Journal of Cancer, volume 119, issue 5, pages 1136-1144, 2006.