About 5,000 Australians a year develop cancer after being exposed to cancer-causing substances at work – more than twice as many cases as previously estimated. Research by the Queensland Cancer Fund and University of Sydney found 11 per cent of all cancers in men and 2 per cent of cancers in women were linked to occupation, prompting doctors to warn that occupational health and safety regulations may be failing to protect workers. In a criticism of the Doll/Peto 1981 estimate commonly cited by authorities, they note: “Because of outdated data, and gaps in knowledge of which chemicals cause cancer and the magnitude of the risk of cancer from each carcinogen, these are very likely to have been considerable underestimates.” They add: “We estimate that approximately 10.8 per cent of cancer cases (excluding non-malignant skin cancers) in males and 2.2 per cent of such cancer cases in females are caused by occupational exposures.” This is a key scientific paper that led to a reevaluation upward of occupational cancer burdens in many countries.

Lin Fritschi and Tim Driscoll. Cancer due to occupation in Australia, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, volume 30, number 3, pages 213-219, June 2006. Risks 261.