Exposure to levels of benzene below that allowable in UK workplaces may pose a health risk, suggests new research. The study has shown that workers who inhaled less than one part per million (1ppm) had fewer white blood cells than those who were not exposed. The UK exposure standard for benzene is currently 1ppm averaged over a working day, suggesting UK workers could be facing potentially health damaging exposures even if workplace safety limits are not exceeded. The research, by US and Chinese scientists, is published in the journal Science. The study prompted the industry-financed Benzene Taskforce Project in Shanghai which ran from 2000 to 2009. In 2014, the Center Public Integrity exposed this as an industry attempt, in the words of the industry body API, to “develop scientific data… for use in science advocacy, risk management, litigation support.” The API memo states that benzene is “of particular concern to the industry” because “tighter regulation… could impose substantial costs.”

Q lan, L Zhang G Li and others. Hematotoxicity in workers exposed to low levels of benzene, Science, volume 306, issue 5702, pages 1774-1776, 3 December 2004. Risks 186.

A global union campaign has seen building products giant James Hardie’s rapid descent from darling of the stockmarket to company in crisis, facing protests and legal action on three continents.

Hazards 88, October-December 2004.

Asbestos is the world’s biggest ever industrial killer. Studies suggest asbestos disease could eventually account for 10 million deaths worldwide.

Joseph LaDou. The asbestos cancer epidemic. Environmental Health Perspectives, volume 112, number 3, pages 285-290, 2004.

Joint Declaration from the International Building Trade Union Federations, made at the Global Asbestos Congress, Tokyo, November 2004.

Full declaration, November 2004.

Solvents commonly used by hundreds of painters are being blamed for a young Christchurch worker’s shock death from leukaemia. Jason Gibson, 29, experienced irrational mood swings, headaches, chronic lethargy and nosebleeds in the months before being diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APML) last November. Six days later, he suffered a massive brain haemorrhage and died. Working as a painter was flagged as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in 1989.

IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, volume 47, Some organic solvents, resin monomers and related compounds, pigments and occupational Exposures in paint manufacture and painting, 1989 [pdf]. Risks 179.

The TUC says there is now an unanswerable case in favour of workplace smoking bans. Commenting on a new international review of research into the health impact of smoking bans, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: ‘The research proves that in the towns and cities around the world where smoking has been stubbed out, the positive health effects on workers previously exposed to tobacco smoke are immediate and lasting.’

Risks 179.

Exposure to industrial chemicals and radiation has contributed more than previously thought to the rising incidence of breast cancer, according to a new report. State of the Evidence 2004: What is the connection between the environment and breast cancer, released by two US advocacy groups on breast cancer, says fewer than one in 10 cases of breast cancer occurs in women born with a genetic predisposition for the disease. The report amasses new evidence from 21 research studies published since February 2003, adding to existing evidence linking toxins in the environment to breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Fund State of the Evidence webpages. Risks 178.

The risk of ovarian cancer increases with increased exposure to diesel exhaust at work, according to a new study. Writing in the International Journal of Cancer, a research team from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health describe how they assessed the risk a variety of cancers possibly linked to engine exhaust exposure. These included leukaemia and cancers of the throat, ovaries, testes, kidney and bladder. It found individuals with the highest cumulative exposure to diesel exhaust had more than 3.5 times the risk of ovarian cancer.

Johannes Guo, Timo Kauppinen and others. Risk of esophageal, ovarian, testicular, kidney and bladder cancers and leukemia among Finnish workers exposed to diesel or gasoline engine exhaust, International Journal of Cancer, volume 111, issue 2, pages 286-292, 2004.

In 2004, North American firefighters’ union IAFF published a list of ‘presumptive laws’ in Canadian provinces approving workers’ compensation for firefighters’ cancers. The report noted: “This document you are reading is designed to illustrate what a number of Canadian provinces have done or are doing in recognition of cancer as an occupational disease among fire fighters; to show the proliferation of presumptive cancer legislation across Canada and highlight some of the research that has led to these legislative advances. Ultimately, it’s only fair that fire fighters and their survivors are compensated for cancers that they suffer as a direct result of their occupation. And that’s why presumptive cancer legislation for fire fighters is… “an Act of fairness.”

Presumptive Cancer Legislation for Professional Fire Fighters: An Act of fairness, IAFF, September 2004.

Asbestos producer nations have blocked the addition of chrysotile (white) asbestos to the UN list of highly dangerous substances that cannot be exported to developing countries without their knowledge and agreement.

Hazards update, 18 September 2004.