An estimated 35 million new cancer cases by 2050 would mark a 77 percent rise in the global cancer burden.
Approximately 2 to 8 percent of cancers worldwide are related to workplace exposures. This highlights a growing concern: the presence of carcinogens in our environment.
The increase in cancer rates globally has been linked to prolonged exposure to environmental contaminants. These contaminants disrupt normal cellular processes, leading to mutations and the uncontrolled cell growth characteristic of cancer.
Exposure to major ambient air pollutants has an effect on incidences of lung cancer and some non-lung cancers. Air pollution is estimated to cause about 29 percent of lung cancer deaths globally.
But this is just scratching the surface.
Carcinogenic elements can be found in unexpected places. Our outfits, for one.
Researchers at RMIT University explore the hidden risks of ultra-fast fashion clothing containing harmful chemical additives and dyes that may lead to cancer through prolonged exposure. Imported clothing poses its own challenges by bypassing local regulations.
The rapid rates of urbanisation, globalisation and industrialisation over the decades have exacerbated cancer burdens across both developed and developing nations. According to global data, Western Europe has the highest death rates linked to workplace-linked cancers.
Asbestos, a long-known human carcinogen, remains an occupational hazard despite being banned in countries such as Singapore. It leads to lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma, a rare cancer with a long gestation period which makes compensation and healthcare support challenging to access, leaving workers in the marine and construction industry particularly vulnerable.
The spike in cancer cases in Punjab due to pesticide use also shows the underbelly of India's Green Revolution of the 1960s. Contaminants like arsenic, lead and DDT present in groundwater and crops in the area, leading to cervical, oral and breast cancer, has significantly increased health expenditure among the population.
Similar cases of arsenic poisoning have been observed in India's eastern states, leading to a crisis of groundwater contamination. Informal workers such as migrant construction workers and tannery workers also bear a high burden of occupational cancer with limited healthcare access and unsafe working conditions.
Stringent regulation of pollutants and hazardous chemicals, proper regulatory frameworks, increased standards of monitoring, active safety protocols at workplaces and public awareness can reduce exposure and associated health risks.
360info
Illustration by Michael Joiner, 360info, image via University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign