New Research Concludes Diesel Exhaust Exposures cause’s Cancer in Workers

Tuesday, June 24, 2014 | Chemical Related Cancers or DiseasesLung Cancer | Author: | Original Article

Diesel engine exhaust has now been definitively linked to causing cancer in humans. A panel of experts working for the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded in June 2012 that diesel exhausts is a potential cause of lung cancer. Diesel exhaust has also been linked to pancreatic and bladder cancer. After a week-long meeting of international experts, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a part of the World Health Organization (WHO), classified diesel engine exhaust as carcinogenic to humans (Group 1), based on sufficient evidence that exposure is associated with an increased risk for lung cancer. WHO based its findings on research in high-risk workers including railway workers and others industrial workers exposed to diesel exhaust.

Similarly, American scientists have also found an increased risk of developing lung cancer in workers exposed to diesel fuel exhaust. A recent study found evidence that diesel exhaust exposure supports it as a cause of lung cancer in industrial workers and represent a potential public health burden. See The Diesel Exhaust in Miners study by Debra T. Silverman, et al., JNCI, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 104, Issue 11, June 6, 2012.

This is very disturbing for the industrial worker as most industries operate a significant amount of diesel powered equipment without providing adequate safety measures for those exposed. Diesel exhaust exposure places the worker at risk for cancer. This risk has been studied and known for years yet many industries have simply ignored the risk and not instituted safety measure or discontinued use of diesel equipment in favor of equipment with safe levels of emission.

For decades, industry has relied upon diesel engines as a “cheaper” alternative to gasoline powered vehicles and ports, railroad yards and powerhouse industries have widely used heavily polluting diesel engines in its trucks, cranes, ships, trains and other equipment. In the process, industry needlessly over-exposed countless workers, drivers, mechanics, conductors, engineers and others to cancer causing pollution in doses sufficient to cause cancer and in doses that are much greater than the public exposure.