World Wide Mesothelioma Trends

Overview

It was found that 60% of workplaces using carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reprotoxic (CMR) agents had not carried out any assessment of health risks faced by their workers. CMR agents are substances that cause cancer or other reproductive health diseases. Of the 40% that had carried out such an assessment, only half had actually replaced CMR agents with non-toxic or less toxic substitutes.

Of the workplaces where a risk assessment study was done, employers had tackled the problem at source (i.e. protecting all workers) in only one-third of the cases. In 31% of the cases, personal protective measures – such as use of masks – were followed, but the equipment was used incorrectly and maintained poorly.

Exposure to carcinogenic materials

• Fibers:
• Asbestos: France banned new production of asbestos-containing materials (with a few exceptions) in 1997. This however does not eliminate the risk of the two main asbestos-related diseases: asbestosis, and malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Both these diseases have a long dormancy period and symptoms start showing up few-to-several decades after the exposure.

Besides, asbestos that has already been used in the past – in buildings, insulation products, etc. – is still there and threatens the health of repair and maintenance workers.

Both the diseases usually affect tissues surrounding the lungs.MPM is fatal and the survival period is usually less than a year after detection. Asbestosis, if not treated in time, leads to MPM.

It is estimated that 1%-10% of French workers in the past 20 years have been exposed to asbestos, at least occasionally (and that’s bad enough because the chances of contracting MPM are the same whether the exposure has been regular or occasional). Today, around 750 MPM patients and 1,300 patients with lung cancer contracted from occupational exposure are being diagnosed annually.

European medical studies predict MPM deaths in France will peak at 2,200 a year some time after 2020.

• Other fibers: The international medical fraternity believes that fine and long biopersistent fibers such as ceramic fibers increase vulnerability to MPM, fibrosis, and lung cancer in rodents. Since the physiology of rodents are similar to that of humans, there is a good (though as yet unproven) possibility that workers exposed to such fibers are prone to the said diseases. France is a big user of synthetic and natural mineral fibers, especially mineral wools.

• Silica:
Silica exposure, the cause of silicosis, is a widespread occupational hazard. Workers in mines and quarries are exposed to silica dust day in and day out. Today, around 30,000 workers are employed in this sector in France, down from nearly half-a-million in the years following World War II. The building, tunneling, and glass industries also pollute the atmosphere with silica dust. Silicosis is a respiratory disease that can lead to lung cancer. The number of compensated silicosis cases in France has stabilized around 225 cases annually from a peak of 600 in the 1980s.

• Wood dusts:
A study conducted in France from 1986 to 1988 indicated that occupational exposure to wood dusts causes sino-nasal cancer. According to records of compensation for occupational diseases, 20-40 cases of sino-nasal cancer among wood workers were compensated every year in the 1990s.

• Metals and chemicals:
Nickel, chromium and cadmium are among the metals that can exert carcinogenic effect on humans occupationally exposed to them. Potentially carcinogenic chemicals include benzene, aromatic amines, vinyl chloride, and bischloromethylether. Many industries in France use these metals and chemicals; so workers are at risk. Nevertheless, worker protection from these substances seems to be quite effective as there has been no alarm about cancer from metal and chemical exposure.

French action

Conclusion

Summary