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Aetiology of cancer
Published in Ian Peate, Nursing & Health Survival Guide, 2014
It is often very difficult to assess the role of occupational exposures in the development of cancer as cancer is caused by complex relationships of many factors. Occupational cancer can occur as a result of working environments that involve direct exposure to a carcinogen or exposure to a carcinogen produced as part of a work process.
Occupational Cancer
Published in Peter G. Shields, Cancer Risk Assessment, 2005
Robert J. McCunney, Lee Okurowski
This chapter is designed to provide an overview of occupational cancer, its causes, risks, and prevention. The subject is vast and extends into clinical, epidemiological, legal, toxicological, and ethical areas, among others. As a result, a complete discussion of this topic is beyond the scope of this chapter. It is intended, however, to be a basic resource on the subject for researchers, physicians, nurses, and other health professionals with a particular emphasis on biomarkers. The chapter includes a brief history of early occupational cancer, contemporary issues related to occupational cancer risks, and methods for determining such risks through epidemiological, animal and in vitro investigations. Sections on assessing risks of occupational cancer and its prevention follow, along with a discussion on addressing casual associations.
Cancer epidemiology and health policy
Published in Sol Levine, Abraham M. Lilienfeld, Epidemiology and Health Policy, 1987
Marianne N. Prout, Theodore Colton, Robert A. Smith
Considerable gaps in knowledge pervade the area of occupational cancer since the past has seen little routine collection of data on both occupational exposure to carcinogens and subsequent rates of occurrence of cancer. Epidemiologic studies have appeared mainly in plants or industries that have a high index of suspicion for occurrence of occupational cancers.
Occupational health risk assessment of volatile organic compounds emitted from the coke production unit of a steel plant
Published in International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 2020
Fateme Dehghani, Fariborz Omidi, Omidreza Heravizadeh, Saied Barati Chamgordani, Vahid Gharibi, Akbar Sotoudeh Manesh
The data obtained from the analysis of personal samples were used to carry out cancer and non-cancer risk assessment of the coke production unit. Among BTEX compounds, benzene and ethylbenzene have been considered human carcinogens [24,25]. Therefore, the cancer risk assessment was conducted for these two compounds. The non-cancer risk assessment was carried out for all BTEX compounds. Using chronic inhalation intake (Table 5), the 30-year occupational cancer risk for benzene and ethylbenzene compounds was estimated. The cancer risk assessment of the carcinogen compounds revealed that the risk of benzene in the benzol refinement section was higher than in the other studied sections (Figure 1). The material recycling section had the lowest cancer risk value of benzene exposure. The highest and lowest carcinogenicity risk for ethylbenzene was observed in the experimental furnace section and in the energy and biochemistry section, respectively. From Table 6, it can be found that the HQ values obtained for all measured compounds except benzene and toluene were lower than 1. The calculated HQ for benzene was greater than 1 in all studied sections, while the estimated HQ for toluene was only higher than 1 in the benzol refinement section.
Approaches for the setting of occupational exposure limits (OELs) for carcinogens
Published in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 2023
Although not in focus of this review, there are obviously a number of measures in addition to OELs that can and should be taken to reduce the risk of occupational cancer. The EU Chemical Agents Directive (CAD) recommends a hierarchy of control measures to prevent or reduce exposure to dangerous substances, with the complete elimination of the substance at the top, i.e. the STOP principles (Substitution, Technical measures, Organisational measures, Personal protective equipment) (European Parliament 1998; EU-OSHA 2018; ECHA 2021; European Parliament 2022). In addition, the EU initiative Roadmap on Carcinogens comprises four pillars and 12 challenges to prevent workers from getting exposed to carcinogens (Roadmap on Carcinogens 2020) (Figure 8).
Ethical considerations related to radiosensitivity and radiosusceptibility
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2020
It is clear that the requirement to address the issues of radiation susceptibility is well recognized both by the radiation research and the protection communities, with an increasing momentum to progress. It must be identified however, that the issue of individual sensitivity to occupational illness or disease, is by no means confined to considerations of occupational cancer from ionizing radiation exposure. Acute, chronic and cancer outcomes are well recognized with individual sensitivity demonstrated in relation to physical, chemical, biological, and even psychological exposures at work. These considerations have, however, had little impact on systems of protection from occupational disease to date.