To ask the Secretary of State for Health what evidence he has collated on possible links between industrial processes and installations and specific cancers, broken down by (a) cancer type and (b) geographic region; and if he will make a statement. [120630]
I have been asked to reply.For people occupationally exposed to industrial processes, I am advised by the Health and Safety Executive that the highest profile industrial processes definitively linked to cancer by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, are as follows.
Industrial process | Cancer type |
Aluminium Production | Lung, bladder |
Destructive distillation of coal | Skin, bladder, respiratory tract |
Iron and steel founding | Lung |
Boot and shoe manufacture and repair | Nose |
Furniture and cabinet making | Nose |
Manufacture of isopropyl alcohol | Paranasal sinuses |
Production of paint and work as a painter (and decorator) | Lung cancer |
Manufacture of rubber and rubber compounds | Bladder |
Manufacture of dyes containing aromatic amines | Bladder |
Manufacture of mustard gas | Lung, upper respiratory tract |
Agent or substance | Cancer type |
Asbestos | Lung, pleura, peritoneum |
Ionising radiation | Wide variety including breast, leukaemia, lung, thyroid |
Benzene | Leukaemia |
Chromium VI compounds | Lung |
Nickel compounds | Lung, nose |
Vinyl chloride | Liver |
Coal tar pitches | Lung |
Arsenic and arsenical compounds | Skin, lung |
Ultraviolet radiation | Skin |
Bischloromethyl ether | Lung |
Mineral acid mists | Larynx |
Diesel engine exhaust | Lung |
Cadmium | Lung |
Incidence of cancer of the larynx and lung near incinerators of waste solvents and oils in Great Britain; by P. Elliott, M. Hills, J. Beresford, I. Kleinschmidt, D. Jolley, S. Pattenden, L. Rodrigues, A. Westlake, G. Rose, published in the Lancet (1992), volume 339, pages 854–58.
Angiosarcoma of the liver in Great Britain in proximity to vinyl chloride sites; by P. Elliott and I. Kleinschmidt, published in "Occupational and Environmental Medicine" (1997), volume 54, pages 14–18.
Cancer incidence and mortality around the Pan Britannica Industries pesticide factory, Waltham Abbey; by P. Wilkinson, B. Thakrar, G. Shaddick, S. Stevenson, S. Pattenden, M. Landon, C. Grundy and P. Elliott, published in "Occupational and Environmental Medicine" (1997), volume 54, pages 101–107.
In its third report, the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) recommended an investigation of the geographical distribution of childhood cancer and leukaemia in Great Britain and how the pattern of cases around nuclear installations compares with the national pattern. This study in nearing completion. The database will also allow investigation of other environmental factors and their potential relevance to the temporal and spatial distribution of childhood cancer.