Canada's deadly auto factories cause breast cancer

12 posts / 0 new

Tue, 2012-11-20 14:28

lagatta

Women working in the Canadian automotive plastics industry are almost five times as likely to develop breast cancer as women working elsewhere

STUDY SPOTLIGHTS HIGH BREAST CANCER RISK FOR PLASTICS WORKERS

http://climateandcapitalism.com/2012/11/19/canadasdeadly-factories-breas...

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/11/19/11806/study-spotlights-high-br...

Please move this to the health forum or another if you think it is more relevant; there is not a forum on "work accidents and occupational disease". This is a workers', women's, health and enviromental issue - and a disgrace.

Horrible story. Hope they are screening all the workers (men as well as women, since those things cause hormonal-related cancers in people of both sexes).

Regions:

Tue, 2012-11-20 16:14

Boom Boom

The plastics industry responds:

"...Although this is an important area of research, these findings are inconsistent with other research and should not be used to draw conclusions about the cause of cancer patterns in workers.”

Of course they don't want to be implicated - could be more regulation and maybe class action lawsuits.

Tue, 2012-11-20 16:43

autoworker autoworker's picture

VOC's (volatile organic compounds) have been associated with heath problems for some time. Toyota is actively working with suppliers to reduce emissions. More needs to be done in regard to occupational hygiene. Women, especially night shift workers, are particularly at increased risk of cancer.

Tue, 2012-11-20 16:44

ryanw

their control group should have included firefighters

Tue, 2012-11-20 17:17

lagatta

Firefighters are also known to have a greatly increased rate of cancers. Would they really be a "control" group, or another group of workers exposed to occupational carcinogens?

Tue, 2012-11-20 17:39

ryanw

that was the point of the study, to catalogue career women in hazardous environments

why leave out the biggest one? or at least the biggest one which now has slightly better protective gear, the data could have been used to evaluate progress by the interventions since the previous studies from twenty-odd years back that already clearly indicated the need for improved protective equipment for that job.

in all likeliness theres alot of people who should be working in head to toe protection on a respirator and some of those jobs are minimum wage and less

Tue, 2012-11-20 17:45

autoworker autoworker's picture

It's also a consumer issue.

Tue, 2012-11-20 17:57

Catchfire

Yes, autoworker, except carcinegenic materials are already extensively regulated on the consumer market. But the working conditions in the factories which produce the same materials are not. Why?

Tue, 2012-11-20 19:50

autoworker autoworker's picture

Catchfire wrote:

Yes, autoworker, except carcinegenic materials are already extensively regulated on the consumer market. But the working conditions in the factories which produce the same materials are not. Why?

Actually, consumer regulations, are not as stringent as one might assume. But to your point about workplace hazards, it's become a race to the bottom, as the supply chain lengthens into jurisdictions that are virtually non-regulated. From what I see, the best hope of addressing VOC health risks in my workplace, is to make it a consumer issue. In other words: automakers won't use plastics that consumers won't purchase. The industry is market driven. Toyota isn't developing a toxic free interior for the sake of it's workforce, but for the educated, upscale consumer who won't drive her kids around in a chemical soup. In this case, virtue is rewarded in the marketplace, with ancillary benefits in the workplace.