Mesothelioma

There are at least 90,000 workers who are still dying from asbestos-related diseases.In addition, exposures to benzene, particularly used by workers in the chemical and diamond industries result in thousands of deaths from the resulting leukemia, another form of cancer.According Maria Neira, WHO's Director of Public Health and Environment, "The tragedy of occupational cancer resulting from asbestos, benzene and other carcinogens is that it takes so long for science to be translated into protective action.""Known and preventable exposures are clearly responsible for hundreds of thousands of excess cancer cases each year.

In the interests of protecting our health, we must adopt an approach rooted in primary prevention - that is to make workplaces free from carcinogenic risks," Dr.

Neira added.Surprisingly, most of the cancer-related deaths from occupational hazards are still occurring in the developed world.The WHO predicts that if the current unregulated use of carcinogens in the workplace continues in these developing countries, the increases in deaths from cancers from these jobs will significantly increase in the following decades."To achieve this [that is, "the control of carcinogens in the workplace", the] WHO supports countries in developing compr...

Read more...