Journal of Environmental Health Sciences (한국환경보건학회지)

Korean Society of Environmental Health (한국환경보건학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Suggestion for the Prevention of Occupational Cancer in Korea

한국에서의 직업성 암 예방을 위한 제언

  • Kim, Won (Wonjin Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health) ;
  • Kim, Shin-Bum (Wonjin Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health) ;
  • Choi, In-Ja (Wonjin Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health) ;
  • Kwag, Hyun-Seok (Wonjin Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health)
  • Received : 2010.09.10
  • Accepted : 2010.10.27
  • Published : 2010.12.30
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

There are millions of deaths from cancer worldwide every year. Among them, 4~10% are considered to be attributable to occupational factors and 0.6 million workers die annually from work-related cancers. Occupational cancers are relatively preventable compared with the cancers associated with other factors. In the developed countries, especially in Europe, there have been hundreds of occupational cancers reported annually in the respective nation-states. However, there were only 35 cases reported in Korea in the 1990s which were accepted as being work-related cancers. This difference might be related to a low level of recognition, detection, and acceptance of occupational cancer and carcinogens in Korea. To prevent the risk of exposure to carcinogens a comprehensive list of carcinogens must be prepared. This should be followed by timely dissemination of information which will enable fundamental controls to be implemented, such as the imposition of ban, substitution, and engineering controls. This will require setting up procedures to record the past use and exposure data and carrying out robust statistical analyses of that data on occupational cancers and carcinogens.

Keywords

References

  1. Parkin, D. M., Bray, F., Ferlay, J. and Pisani, P. : Global cancer statistics, 2002. Ca-a Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 55(2), 74-108, 2005. https://doi.org/10.3322/canjclin.55.2.74
  2. Brown, M. L., Lipscomb, J. and Snyder, C. : The burden of illness of cancer: Economic cost and quality of life. Annual Review of Public Health, 22, 91-113, 2001. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.publhealth.22.1.91
  3. Boyle, P., Levin, B. and Cancer, International Agency for Research on Cancer : World cancer report 2008. International Agency for Research on Cancer Lyon, France, 2008.
  4. Danaei, G., Vander Hoorn, S., Lopez, Alan D., Murray, Christopher J. L. and Ezzati, M. : Causes of cancer in the world: comparative risk assessment of nine behavioural and environmental risk factors. The Lancet, 366(9499), 1784-1793, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67725-2
  5. Doll, R. and Peto, R. : The causes of cancer - quantitative estimates of avoidable risks of cancer in the united-states today. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 66(6), 1191-1308, 1981.
  6. Landrigan, P. J. and Baker, D. B. : Clinical recognition of occupational and environmental disease. Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine, 62(5), 406-411, 1995.
  7. Landrigan, P. J. and Markowitz, S. : Current magnitude of occupational-disease in the united-states-estimates from new-york-state. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 572, 27-45, 1989. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1989.tb13568.x
  8. Leigh, J. P., Markowitz, S. B., Fahs, M., Shin, C. and Landrigan, P. J. : Occupational injury and illness in the United States - Estimates of costs, morbidity, and mortality. Archives of Internal Medicine, 157(14), 1557-1568, 1997. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.157.14.1557
  9. Nurminen, M. and Karjalainen, A. : Epidemiologic estimate of the proportion of fatalities related to occupational factors in Finland. (vol. 27, p. 161, 2001), Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment & Health, 27(4), 295-295, 2001.
  10. Rushton, L., Hutchings, S. and Brown, T. : The burden of cancer at work: estimation as the first step to prevention. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 65(12), 789-800, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.2007.037002
  11. Steenland, K., Burnett, C., Lalich, N., Ward, E. and Hurrell, J. : Dying for work: The magnitude of US mortality from selected causes of death associated with occupation. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 43(5), 461-482, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.10216
  12. Barone-Adesi, F., Richiardi, L. and Merletti, F. : Population attributable risk for occupational cancer in Italy. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 11(1), 23-31, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1179/oeh.2005.11.1.23
  13. Boffetta, P. and Kogevinas, M. : Introduction: Epidemiologic research and prevention of occupational cancer in Europe. Environmental Health Perspectives, 107, 229-231, 1999. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.99107s2229
  14. Kauppinen, T., Toikkanen, J., Pedersen, D., Young, R., Ahrens, Y., Boffetta, P., Hansen, J., Kromhout, H., Blasco, J. M., Mirabelli, D., de la Orden-Rivera, V., Pannett, B., Plato, N., Savela, A., Vincent, R. and Kogevinas, M. : Occupational exposure to carcinogens in the European Union. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 57(1), 10-18, 2000. https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.57.1.10
  15. Hamalainen, P., Takala, J. and Saarela, K. L. : Global estimates of fatal work-related diseases. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 50(1), 28-41, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.20411
  16. Driscoll, T., Nelson, D. I., Steenland, K., Leigh, J., Concha-Barrientos, M., Fingerhut, M. and Pruss-Ustun, A. : The global burden of-disease due to occupational carcinogens. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 48(6), 419-431, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.20209
  17. Brugere, J. and Naud, C. : Recognition of occupational cancers in Europe. TUTB (Trade Union Technical Bureau) Newsletter, 21, 38-39, 2003.
  18. Ministry for Health Welfare and Family Affairs : White Paper on Health, Welfare and Family 2008, ed. Ministry For Health Welfare and Family Affairs. 2009.
  19. Cho, S. H., Kang, D., Ko, K. S., Kwon, H. J., Kim, D. H., Ha, M., Han, S. H. and Ju, Y. S. : Estimates of occupational cancer in Korea. Journal of Occupational Health, 39(3), 192-196, 1997. https://doi.org/10.1539/joh.39.192
  20. Kang, S.-K., Ahn, Y. S. and Chung, H. K. : Occupational Cancer in Korea in the 1990s. Korean Journal of Occupational Environmental Medicine, 13(4), 9, 2001.
  21. International Agency for Research on Cancer : IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans; Available from: http://www.iarc.fr/. Accessed October 4, 2010.
  22. Department of Health and Human Services : National Toxic Program; Available from: http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/. Accessed October 6, 2010.
  23. Environmental Protectin Agency: Integrated Risk Information System(IRIS); Available from: http:// www.epa.gov/IRIS/. Accessed October 6, 2010.
  24. European Commission : The Directive on Dangerous Substances; Available from: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/dansub/home_en.htm. Accessed October 11, 2010.
  25. American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) : The documentation of the threshold limit values and biological exposure indices, Cincinnati, 2005.
  26. International Chemical Secretariat : SIN(Substitute It Now) List, 2010; Available from: http://www.chemsec.org/list/about-sin. Accessed October 6, 2010.
  27. Romano, D., Santos, T. and Gadea, R. : Trade union priority list for REACH authorisation. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 65, 8-13, 2010.
  28. Clapp, R., Howe, G. and Lefevre, M. : Environmental and occupational causes of cancer, A review of recent Scientific literature. Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, 2005.
  29. Clapp, R., Jacobs, M. and Loechler, E. : Environmental and Occupational Causes of Cancer New Evidence, 2005-2007. Reviews on Environmental Health, 23(1), 1-41, 2007.
  30. International Labor Organization: C139 Occupational Cancer Convention, 1974 1974, ILO: Geneva.
  31. European Chemical Agency: What is CLP?; Available from: http://echa.europa.eu/clp_en.asp. Accessed October 10, 2010.
  32. Slunge, D. and Sterner, T. : Implementation of policy instruments for chlorinated solvents. a comparison of design standards, bans and taxes to phase out trichloroethylene. European Environment: The Journal of European Environmental Policy (Wiley), 11(5), 281-296, 2001.
  33. European Chemical Agency : Authorisation; Available from: http://guidance.echa.europa.eu/authorisation_en.htm. Accessed October 17, 2010.
  34. Dannish Ministry of Environment and Energy : Action Plan for reducing and phasing out phthalates in soft plastics ed. Ministry of Environment and Energy. 1999.
  35. Dannish Ministry of the Environment: Mapping and development of alternatives to chlorinated lubricants in the metal industry, ed. D.M.o.t. Environment. 2005.
  36. Substitution-cmr.fr; Available from: http://www.substitution-cmr.fr/. Accessed October 17, 2010.
  37. Lohse, J., Wirts, M., Ahrens, A., Heitmann, K., Lundie, S., Li ner, L. and Wagnet, A : Substitution of Hazardous Chemicals in Products and Processes, Report compiled for the Directorate General Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection of the Commission of the European Communities, 2000.
  38. Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor : Systematic approach to protect workers from carcinogenic substances. 2010.