Occupational Carcinogens

WHILE REPORTS OF occupational carcinogens were documented as early as the 17th century, it was only after World War II that a great deal of attention began to be paid to the reality of carcinogens in the workplace. By the beginning of the 21st century, it was known that industrial chemicals make up approximately one-half of all known carcinogens.

Even though most people are more likely to associate occupational carcinogens with workers who are employed in factories and mines, lethal substances may also be present in offices, laboratories, hospitals, work sites, and in many other places of business. Exposure to a cancer-causing agent does not mean that a worker will contract cancer, but it does increase risks of certain types of cancer.

In order to make the workplace as safe as possible, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) mandates the use of Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) in all areas where hazardous materials are used, and these sheets must include information about the presence of possible carcinogens. However, this information may be inaccurate, incomplete, or misinterpreted.

At best, the sheer volume of the information may be overwhelming to workers. Workers may also be unaware that occupational cancers can occur years after exposure to toxic substance occurred. For example, in asbestos-related cancers, the latency period has been identified as 30 years or more.

The study of occupational diseases can be traced as far back as the 17th century when Bernardino Ramazzini, an Italian physicist, developed a training method to help physicians diagnose work-related illnesses. Ramazzini believed that physicians should obtain information about all patients' occupations in order to identify possible causes for the symptoms the patient reported.

In the 18th century, information about occupational carcinogens became more specific. In 1775, Sir Percival Pott, a British surgeon, identified a connection between exposure to soot and cancer of the scrotum in chimney sweeps. Over the next several years, other physicians realized that workers who worked with coal tar and paraffin, or who were employed as shale oil workers or mule spinners in the textile industry, were also more likely than the general population to suffer from cancer of the scrotum.

As more physicians and researchers began to pay attention to occupational carcinogens, further evidence documented the link between pulmonary cancer and workers in metal mining. By 1895, a connection between exposure to coal tar and dyestuff and bladder cancer had been established.

In the early part of the 20th century, researchers first fully understood that cancer was not infectious but was a result of a number of variables that included heredity and environment. From this point on, the study of occupational carcinogens became common.

However, most medical schools continued to refuse to add the study of occupational carcinogens as a required course of study, leaving medical practitioners on their own as they dealt with increasing rates of work-related cancers. In 1976, Congress passed the Toxic Substances Control Act that mandated an inventory of all chemicals used in the workplace, giving physicians more data to use in diagnosing occupational cancers. This information also provided employers with details about possible carcinogens that could threaten their employees, however, many employers continued to ignore the problem.

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