Work Related Cancers Incorrectly Blamed On Smoking

A new study suggests many lung cancers are routinely misattributed to smoking, when workplace and other exposures are to blame.

Scientists have concluded much of the known much higher lung cancer rates in workers with less education cannot be explained by smoking.

The study, published online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on 24 February, found smoking history accounts for only half of the excess risk. Previous studies showed that individuals with a lower socioeconomic status have higher rates of lung cancer. 'Burying the evidence', a 2005 report from the journal Hazards, cites Peter Infante, formerly a top official with the US safety watchdog OSHA, who referred to occupational cancer, particularly lung cancers, as a blue collar epidemic.

In the latest study, Gwenn Menvielle and colleagues examined the association of smoking, diet, education, and lung cancer in 391,251 individuals in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition study. They found men with the lowest education had a 3.62-fold increased risk of lung cancer compared with men with the highest education. Women with the lowest education had a 2.39-fold increased risk compared with women with the highest education. When the researchers adjusted the risk models to account for smoking, the excess risk dropped by approximately half.

Diet did not appear to contribute to the inequity. The paper notes 'exposure to radon at home and occupational exposures may also contribute to the residual inequalities. Some rough estimates suggest that approximately 50 per cent of socioeconomic inequalities in lung cancer mortality could be attributable to occupational exposures, but there are few studies on this topic.' European studies have suggested manual workers are more than eight times as likely to be exposed to workplace carcinogens as managers.

Source: TUC Risks

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