Kim Krisberg: Dr. Paul Demers says he frequently finds himself having to make the case for why studying workplace exposures to carcinogens is important. Oftentimes, he says, people believe such occupational dangers are a thing of the past.
“A lot of people are still developing cancer and dying from cancer due to workplace exposures, but only a small fraction of those are compensated, so people may think the magnitude of this problem is small,” said Demers, director of the Occupational Cancer Research Centre in Ontario, Canada. “I wanted to have better data.”
And in just a few years, he will. In November, Demers and his colleagues received funding from the Canadian Cancer Society to launch a study that’s a first-of-its-kind for Canada and what Demers described as “a long time coming.” The four-year, nationwide study will examine the human and economic impact of workplace exposures to carcinogens, focusing on 44 known or suspected carcinogens as identified by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. The Canadian study will include a broad range of occupational settings, from mining and agriculture to the service and health care sectors.
“I couldn’t say how many people were dying from benzene or formaldehyde or dozens of other carcinogens,” Demers told me. “That’s why I’ve wanted a comprehensive program for some time now…so we can assess, with a lot more rigorous data, the full impact of workplace carcinogens to raise awareness in government agencies, among employers, unions…as to why this continues to be an important area to pay attention to.”
The first two years of the study will be spent pulling together relevant exposure and epidemiological data to develop a set of estimates on just how many cancers annually are due to occupational exposures. During the third year, as researchers wrap up the cancer estimates, a team of health economists will estimate both the direct and indirect costs of such occupational cancers, such medical costs, losses in productivity and the costs of disability. The last year of the study, Demers and his colleagues will work closely with the Canadian Cancer Society to “use the data as a lever to promote prevention programs in Canada — we plan to take the data we’ve generated and really push it out there so it gets in the hands of people who can push for more prevention,” he said.
Please continue reading By Kim Krisberg at: http://scienceblogs.com/thepumphandle/2013/01/14/new-first-of-its-kind-canadian-study-to-chronicle-the-impact-of-occupational-cancers/