Working night shifts may increase the risk of ovarian cancer, according to this research. The study of more than 3,000 women found that working nights increased the risk of early-stage cancer by 49 per cent compared with doing normal office hours.
Parveen Bhatti and others. Nightshift work and risk of ovarian cancer, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 50, pages 231-237, 2013 [abstract]. BBC News Online. Risks 598.
Europe’s lawmakers have said chemical safety laws must be overhauled to take account of the impact of widely-used endocrine disrupted chemicals (EDCs). The large group of common industrial chemicals have been linked to breast cancer in a range of industrial and other jobs, prompting calls for action from unions and chemical safety campaigners.
HEAL news release and related Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health commentary. ChemSec news report. EDC free campaign website. Risks 598.
A comprehensive global chemicals agreement is needed to safeguard people and the environment, a report has concluded. The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) said existing global agreements for chemicals management fall short, with only 22 hazardous chemicals currently managed throughout their lifecycle at the global level. The report notes: “There is great potential for innovators to decrease burdens on human health and the environment from hazardous chemicals. A more robust regime could foster an enabling environment for innovative solutions to replace outdated business models. If the chemical industry contributes financial and technical resources on a par with these social costs and engages constructively in the development of a future chemicals regime, they can expect increased goodwill, consumer confidence, as well as opportunities for innovation.”
Paths to global chemical safety: The 2020 goal and beyond, CIEL/SSNC, 2013. Risks 597.
A union representing workers across the USA and Canada has issued an action call to its union reps on occupational breast cancer risks. The steelworkers’ union USW issued the hazards alert after a paper published in November 2012 warned a ‘toxic soup’ of chemical exposures in agriculture, plastics, food packaging, metal manufacture and the bar and gambling industry was placing women at an increased risk of breast cancer. The USW hazard alert calls on union reps to “educate our members about the health hazards of chemicals; use our collective voice to win health and safety improvements in our workplaces, such as substituting less hazardous chemicals or using engineering and design controls to prevent worker exposures to harmful chemicals; and tell our elected representatives that we support reforming outdated chemical laws.”
Industrial chemicals found in common household products may cause breast cancer, asthma, infertility and birth defects, global health chiefs have warned. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report indicates a ban on endocrine-disrupting chemicals could be necessary. The report estimates that as much as 24 per cent of human diseases and disorders are due at least in part to environmental factors which include chemical exposures.
UNEP press release, report summary and full report, State of the science of Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals. ChemSec news report. Alliance for Cancer Prevention statement. Daily Mail. Risks 594.
A United Nations health agency, stung by allegations it had too close a relationship with the asbestos industry, has issued a statement confirming its support for an end to all asbestos use. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which is part of the UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO), was responding to a 2 February 2013 article in the medical journal The Lancet. The response, which came in a 19 February 2013 joint statement from IARC and WHO, notes that “stopping the use of all forms of asbestos is the most efficient way to eliminate asbestos-related diseases.”
Joint WHO-IARC Statement in response to the recent Lancet report: end all use of asbestos, 19 February 2013. RightOnCanada.ca commentary. Rotterdam Convention meeting, 28 April-10 May 2013. Risks 594, 23 February 2013.
Stronger laws to regulate hazardous chemicals spur innovation, with potential benefits for national economies, as well as human health and the environment, according to a new report from the Washington DC-based Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). The report highlights the human health-related costs of intrinsically hazardous chemicals, such as cancer-linked endocrine (hormone) disrupting chemicals, and recommends their systematic phase-out under international laws. It calls for ‘internalisation’ of the cost of hazardous chemicals by industry, including proving the safety of chemicals on the market and for stronger treaties to create a level playing field globally.
CIEL news release and full report, Driving innovation: How stronger laws help bring safer chemicals to market, CIEL, February 2013. Risks 594.
Preventing environmental and occupational cancers is both possible and “highly cost effective”, according to a new paper by international experts. The authors, who include researchers from the UN’s World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), note workplace and environmental exposures are responsible for a substantial share of the global cancer toll. Their report, published online on 5 February 2013 in Environmental Health Perspectives, notes: “A substantial proportion of all cancers is attributable to carcinogenic exposures in the environment and the workplace, and is influenced by activities in all economic and social sectors. Many of these exposures are involuntary but can be controlled or eliminated through enactment and enforcement of proactive strategies for primary prevention.”
Carolina Espina, Miquel Porta, Joachim Schüz and others. Environmental and occupational interventions for primary prevention of cancer: A cross-sectorial policy framework, Environmental Health Perspectives, 5 February 2013. Risks 593.
A report from US government health agencies is calling for more resources to target prevention of breast cancer. Compiled by the Interagency Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Coordinating Committee (IBCERCC), the report notes that most cases of breast cancer “occur in people with no family history,” suggesting that “environmental factors – broadly defined – must play a major role in the aetiology of the disease.” The committee recommends that researchers prioritise “chemicals that are produced in high volumes for which there is biologically plausible evidence of their role in the development of breast cancer.”
Breast cancer and the environment: Prioritising prevention, IBCERCC, 2013. Breast Cancer Fund news release. Center for Public Integrity report. New York Times. Risks 593,.
Papers from a ‘Carcinogens and work-related cancer’ workshop, organised in 2012 by The European Agency EU-OSHA, are available online. The event reached wide-ranging conclusions, including: “There is an increasing need to identify vulnerable, and ‘hidden’, groups whose occupational exposure to cancer risks and carcinogenic processes is underrepresented in exposure data and intervention strategies…”
‘Carcinogens and Work-related Cancer’ workshop: summary, conclusions and associated materials. Risks 592.