Actualités cancérogènes

Canadian Occupational Safety – The United Steelworkers (USW) Local 6500 has partnered with the Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health at Laurentian University and Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers to work to change Ontario’s legislation for diesel particulate exposure in the mining industry. The USW Diesel Particulate Project is advocating for the Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development to change the mining OEL for diesel engine exhaust to 20 µg/m³, which is the level recommended by both CAREX Canada and the Occupational Cancer Research Centre.

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Public Health Agency of Canada – Public health officials provide an important public service responding to community concerns around cancer and often receive requests to investigate patterns of cancer incidence and communicate findings with citizens. In this study, procedures were identified for Canadian public health officials (PHOs) to follow when investigating reports of cancer clusters, and the challenges officials have faced when conducting risk communication with communities were explored. Differences in practices used to investigate suspected cancer clusters by PHOs were revealed. Establishing pan-Canadian guidelines could improve procedural consistency across jurisdictions and offer enhanced opportunities to compare cluster responses for evaluation. A reporting system to track reported clusters may improve information sharing across all levels of governments.

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University of Calgary – A new multidisciplinary study shows that people who act quickly to test for and mitigate radon gas in their homes are at a much lower risk of developing lung cancer long-term. The study found that people who act quickly to learn about, test for, and reduce exposure to radioactive radon gas in their homes could reduce their lifetime risk of lung cancer by as much as 40%, compared to those who do not. The researchers determined that, for a variety of reasons including economic barriers (i.e affordability) and delaying behaviours, three in five Canadians continue to live in homes with known high radon, despite being aware of the associated health risks.

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Statistics Canada – After smoking, radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in Canada. In 2021, 56% of Canadian households reported that they had heard of radon, up from 54% in 2019. Of these, 69% were able to identify the correct description of radon when asked to pick from a list of possibilities, while 13% chose an incorrect description, down from 18% in 2019. The remainder had only heard of the term. In 2021, 9% of non-apartment households that had heard of radon indicated that they had tested for radon at some point in the past. Of these households, 86% had tested within the previous 10 years. About 10% of households that had tested their home reported that a problem had been found.

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National Institutes of Health – Women who used chemical hair straightening products were at higher risk for uterine cancer compared to women who did not report using these products, according to a new study from the National Institutes of Health. The researchers found no associations with uterine cancer for other hair products that the women reported using, including hair dyes, bleach, highlights, or perms. The study data includes 33,497 US women ages 35-74 participating in the Sister Study, a study led by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The women were followed for almost 11 years and during that time 378 uterine cancer cases were diagnosed.

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Statistics Canada – In 2019, the rate of new cancer diagnoses increased from 547.5 to 550.2 cases per 100,000 Canadians, according to data from Canadian Cancer Registry (CCR), the country’s national cancer database. In keeping with the previous years, the five most commonly diagnosed cancers remained those of the breast (13%), lung and bronchus (12%), prostate (11%), colorectal (10%) and urinary bladder (5%).

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The Lancet – Results show that 44% of global cancer deaths and 42% of global cancer disability-adjusted life-years were attributable to estimated risk factors in 2019. Most attributable cancer disability-adjusted life-years were accounted for by behavioural risk factors, such as tobacco use, alcohol use, unsafe sex, and dietary risks. For environmental and occupational risks, the cancer disability-adjusted life-years attributable to occupational carcinogens were three times higher among males than females, which might reflect that males are more likely than females to be employed in workplaces with higher risk of exposure to carcinogens.

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Newswire – This summer, free public sunscreen dispensers are coming to locations across Canada as part of a pilot project to fight skin cancer by making sunscreen more accessible. « Skin cancer is one of the most common cancers and also one of the most preventable, » said Dr. Cheryl Peters, Senior Scientist for Cancer Prevention at BC Cancer and the BC Centre for Disease Control. « Increasing the availability and accessibility of sun safety protections, such as sun screen, in a variety of recreational and occupational settings can help reduce the risk for skin cancer. »

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Environmental Epidemiology – Ambient air pollution is a human carcinogen and a possible risk factor for prostate cancer. Authors investigated associations between ambient concentrations particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and incident prostate cancer in a Canadian case-control study. Results show a positive associations between exposure to PM2.5 and NO2 over the previous 20 years and prostate cancer.

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nternational Agency for Research on Cancer – The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer agency of the World Health Organization (WHO), has evaluated the carcinogenicity of occupational exposure as a firefighter. After thoroughly reviewing the available scientific literature, the Working Group classified occupational exposure as a firefighter as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), on the basis of sufficient evidence for cancer in humans for the following cancer types: mesothelioma and bladder cancer.

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Health Effects Institute – A comprehensive new scientific review released today by the Health Effects Institute (HEI) found growing confidence in the links between several adverse health effects and traffic related air pollution (TRAP). The review found a high or moderate-to-high level of confidence in an association between long-term exposure to TRAP and the adverse health outcomes all-cause, circulatory, ischemic heart disease, and lung cancer mortality; asthma onset in both children and adults; and acute lower respiratory infections in children.

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McGill Newsroom – A new study from McGill University finds higher incidence of lung cancer and brain tumors in people exposed to wildfires. Published in The Lancet Planetary Health, the study shows that people living within 50-kilometer of wildfires over the past 10 years had a 10 per cent higher incidence of brain tumors and 4.9 per cent higher incidence of lung cancer, compared to people living further away.

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Government of Ontario – The Ontario government is working for workers by launching the first-ever review of the province’s occupational illness system. The review will evaluate how occupational illnesses in Ontario are identified, monitored, and prevented. The system-wide study, expected in December of this year, will focus on finding and fixing roadblocks and complexities that were identified by Dr. Paul Demers in the 2020 independent review of occupational disease.

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Frontiers in Public Health – Young workers, those under the age of 25, are considered a vulnerable working population, primarily due to their increased risk of injury. In this study we investigate if young workers may also be at an increased risk for occupational exposure to carcinogens. While there is no data available to develop carcinogen exposure estimates specific to young workers, it is our perspective that young workers are likely at a higher risk for occupational exposure to carcinogens.

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International Atomic Energy Agency – While ionizing radiation exposure is commonly associated with those working in the nuclear field or dealing with radioactive sources, workers in other professions – such as miners, aircrew, researchers, and healthcare professionals – may also face similar risk hazards for which effective radiation protection measures need to be in place. The IAEA has released a technical publication that provides specific guidance on how to assess the cancer risks of those associated with exposure to radiation in the course of their work.

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