The US authorities are doing little to protect workers from occupational cancer and as a result are “bystanders to industrial manslaughter”, top experts have warned. Jeanne Mager Stellman, professor and chair of environmental and occupational health sciences at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, said government policy and a “lack of the will to prevent occupational disease, death and disability” are responsible for the failure to control cancer-causing chemicals in the workplace. She said: “It is not a coincidence that the decrease in carcinogen-control regulations, studies and government publications corresponds to the rapid shrinkage of the United States’ industrial workforce and their representation by trade unions.” She concluded: “We hope that the resurgence of interest in this topic may be a harbinger to a new future in which we will not continue to remain bystanders to ongoing industrial manslaughter.”

SUNY Downstate Medical Center news release. Industrial carcinogens: A need for action [pdf]. Risks 374.