Occupational cancer

Occupational cancer is cancer caused by occupational hazards. Several cancers have been directly tied to occupational hazards, including chimney sweeps' carcinoma, mesothelioma, and others.

Types of hazards

Occupational exposure to chemicals, dusts, radiation, and certain industrial processes have been tied to occupational cancer. Exposure to cancer-causing chemicals (carcinogens) may cause mutations that allow cells to grow out of control, causing cancer. Carcinogens in the workplace may include chemicals like anilines, chromates, dinitrotoluenes, arsenic and inorganic arsenic compounds, beryllium and beryllium compounds, cadmium compounds, and nickel compounds.[1] Dusts that can cause cancer leather or wood dusts, asbestos,[2] crystalline forms of silica, coal tar pitch volatiles, coke oven emissions, diesel exhaust and environmental tobacco smoke.[1] sunlight; radon gas; and industrial, medical, or other exposure to ionizing radiation can all cause cancer in the workplace. Industrial processes associated with cancer include aluminum production; iron and steel founding; and underground mining with exposure to uranium or radon. Shift work, which can disturb the circadian rhythm, has also been identified as a risk factor for some forms of cancer, in particular for breast cancer. [3][4][5]

Other risk factors for cancer include:[6][7][8]

  • Personal characteristics such as age, sex, and race
  • Family history of cancer
  • Being overweight or having obesity
  • Diet and personal habits such as tobacco use and alcohol consumption
  • The presence of certain medical conditions or past medical treatments, including chemotherapy, radiation treatment, or some immune-system suppressing drugs
  • Certain infectious agents (viruses, bacteria, parasites) including Human Papillomaviruses, Epstein-Barr Virus, Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus, and Helicobacter pylori
  • Exposure to cancer-causing agents in the environment (for example, sunlight, radon gas, air pollution)

Types of cancers

Common cancers and their exposures and occupations include:[2]

Cancer Source Examples of Occupations
Bladder Benzidine, beta-naphthylamine,

4-aminobiphenyl, arsenic

 Rubber, leather, paving, roofing,

printing and textile industries; paint/

dyeing products; chimney sweeping;

machinists; hairdressers and barbers;

truck drivers

Kidney Cadmium, trichloroethylene, herbicides,

wood dust

 Painting; metalworking; petroleum,

plastics, and textile industries

Larynx Asbestos, wood dust, paint fumes Metal working; petroleum, rubber,

plastics, and textile industries

Leukemia Formaldehyde, benzene, ethylene

oxide, pesticides

 Rubber manufacturing; oil refining;

shoemaking, funeral embalming

Liver Arsenic, vinyl chloride, aflatoxins Plastic manufacturing
Lung Radon, secondhand smoke, asbestos,

arsenic, cadmium, chromium compounds,

diesel exhaust, sulfur mustard

 Rubber manufacturing, paving,

roofing, painting, chimney sweeping,

iron and steel foundry work, welding

Lymphoma Benzene, 1, 3-butadiene, ethylene

oxide, herbicides, insecticides

 Rubber manufacturing, painting,

hairdresser or barber

Mesothelioma Asbestos Mining, railroad, automotive,

plumbing, painting and construction

industries; factory workers

Nasal cavity and sinus Mustard gas, nickel dust, chromium

dust, leather dust, wood dust, radium

 Textile and baking industry, flour

milling, nickel refining, furniture and

cabinet builders, shoemaking

Skin Arsenic, coal tars, paraffin, certain oils,

sunlight

 Chimney sweeping; outside jobs that

involve a lot of sun exposure

Occupations at higher risk

Firefighters
Main article: Firefighter § Cancer

Firefighters have shown higher rates of certain types of cancer (respiratory, digestive, and urinary systems), and of all cancers combined, when compared to the general U.S. population.[9]

Due to the lack of central and comprehensive sources of data, research on cancer rates amongst firefighters has been challenging.[10][11][12][13] On July 7, 2018, Congress passed the Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of 2018 requiring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create the National Firefighter Registry designed to collect data on cancer rates among U.S. firefighters.[14][15][16]

Epidemiology

An estimated 48,000 cancers are diagnosed yearly in the US that come from occupational causes; this represents approximately 4-10% of total cancer in the United States.[17] It is estimated that 19% of cancers globally are attributed to environmental exposures (including work-related exposures).[18] It is estimated that there are approximately 120,000 work-related cancer cases annually in the EU due to exposure to carcinogens at work.[19]

Prevention

Many occupational cancers are preventable. Personal protective gear, workplace controls, and worker education can prevent exposure to carcinogens in the workplace. Tobacco smoking has also been shown to increase the risk of work-related cancers; decreasing or abstaining from smoking can decrease cancer risk.[2]

Agencies like the US Food and Drug Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration have developed safety standards and limits for chemical and radiation exposure.[2] International Labour Organization has also adopted Occupation Cancer Convention (C139) in 1979 for improvement of workplace safety conditions.

References
  1. "Carcinogen List". National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  2. "Occupation and Cancer" (PDF). American Cancer Society. January 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  3. Fritschi L (July 2009). "Shift work and cancer". BMJ. 339: b2653. doi:10.1136/bmj.b2653. PMID 19605423. S2CID 36132408.
  4. Stevens RG, Hansen J, Costa G, Haus E, Kauppinen T, Aronson KJ, et al. (February 2011). "Considerations of circadian impact for defining 'shift work' in cancer studies: IARC Working Group Report". Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 68 (2): 154–162. doi:10.1136/oem.2009.053512. PMID 20962033. S2CID 16553063.
  5. Megdal SP, Kroenke CH, Laden F, Pukkala E, Schernhammer ES (September 2005). "Night work and breast cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis". European Journal of Cancer. 41 (13): 2023–2032. doi:10.1016/j.ejca.2005.05.010. PMID 16084719.
  6. "CDC - Cancer Policy - NIOSH Workplace Safety and Health Topic". www.cdc.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  7. "Risk Factors and Cancer | CDC". www.cdc.gov. 2021-12-01. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  8. "Risk Factors for Cancer - National Cancer Institute". www.cancer.gov. 2015-04-29. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  9. Daniels RD, Kubale TL, Yiin JH, Dahm MM, Hales TR, Baris D, et al. (June 2014). "Mortality and cancer incidence in a pooled cohort of US firefighters from San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia (1950-2009)". Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 71 (6): 388–397. doi:10.1136/oemed-2013-101662. PMC 4499779. PMID 24142974.
  10. Daniels, Robert D; Kubale, Travis L; Yiin, James H; Dahm, Matthew M; Hales, Thomas R; Baris, Dalsu; Zahm, Shelia H; Beaumont, James J; Waters, Kathleen M; Pinkerton, Lynne E (June 2014). "Mortality and cancer incidence in a pooled cohort of US firefighters from San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia (1950–2009)". Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 71 (6): 388–397. doi:10.1136/oemed-2013-101662. ISSN 1351-0711. PMC 4499779. PMID 24142974.
  11. Tsai, Rebecca J.; Luckhaupt, Sara E.; Schumacher, Pam; Cress, Rosemary D.; Deapen, Dennis M.; Calvert, Geoffrey M. (May 6, 2015). "Risk of cancer among firefighters in California, 1988-2007". American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 58 (7): 715–729. doi:10.1002/ajim.22466. ISSN 0271-3586. PMC 4527530. PMID 25943908.
  12. Lee, David J.; Koru-Sengul, Tulay; Hernandez, Monique N.; Caban-Martinez, Alberto J.; McClure, Laura A.; Mackinnon, Jill A.; Kobetz, Erin N. (April 2020). "Cancer risk among career male and female Florida firefighters: Evidence from the Florida Firefighter Cancer Registry (1981-2014)". American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 63 (4): 285–299. doi:10.1002/ajim.23086. ISSN 1097-0274. PMID 31930542. S2CID 210191181.
  13. Ma, Fangchao; Fleming, Lora E.; Lee, David J.; Trapido, Edward; Gerace, Terence A. (September 2006). "Cancer incidence in Florida professional firefighters, 1981 to 1999". Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 48 (9): 883–888. doi:10.1097/01.jom.0000235862.12518.04. ISSN 1076-2752. PMID 16966954. S2CID 45179842.
  14. "Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of 2018 (2018 - H.R. 931)". GovTrack.us. Retrieved May 9, 2022.
  15. "National Firefighter Registry". U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. 2022-09-19. Retrieved 2022-11-08.
  16. "The National Firefighter Registry: An update on the plan to track firefighter cancer". FireRescue1. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  17. "Occupational Cancer". National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. 2 May 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  18. "Environmental and occupational cancers". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on December 4, 2013. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  19. "Work-related cancer | Safety and health at work EU-OSHA". osha.europa.eu. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
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