NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) Testimony to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce by Dr. Joseph K. Wagoner on May 28, 1976

摘要

The testimony before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations provided an overview of the occupational causes of cancer. A critical assessment was made of past attempts to identify and evaluate occupational carcinogens. According to this testimony, even once a substance has been identified, little seems to have been done to institute control measures for the protection of society. Coke oven workers in the steel industry exposed to coal combustion byproducts died of lung cancer at a rate of ten times that of other steel workers. Some occupational groups exposed to arsenic (7440382) died of lung cancer at a rate of two to eight times the national level. As late as 1971 thousands of American workers were still exposed greatly to aromatic amines although the link between these substances and bladder cancer had been known for 80 years. Similarly, uranium workers were still being exposed to radon daughters sufficient to cause lung cancer at three times the normal rate. The spread of mesothelioma to the wives and children of asbestos (1332214) workers through the carrying home of the fibers on their work clothes, the level of arsenic in the urine and hair of children living near copper smelters, the increased rate of lung cancer among those living in areas where arsenical insecticides were used were noted. The increased incidence of diseases of the central nervous system, the liver, the bones of the fingers, the lungs, and the reproductive system have all been attributed to exposures to vinyl-chloride (75014).