Blue collar jobs causing cancer: study

Truck drivers, cleaners, fruit and vegetable growers, hair dressers and sewing machinists are at a higher risk of developing cancer than their white-collar job counterparts, a new study warns.

Exposure to potentially toxic chemicals, dyes, pesticides and viruses were responsible for occupational disease risks, experts stated.

Apple and pear growers were five times more likely, while plant nursery staff were at a four-fold increased risk to develop non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

''An elevated non-Hodgkin's lymphoma risk was observed for field crop and vegetable growers and horticulture and fruit growing, particularly for women,'' the Daily Telegraph quoted author Dr Andrea 't Mannetje as saying.

Workers employed in metal product manufacturing were at an elevated risk. Suggested reasons for the higher cancer risk included exposure to animal viruses, cleaning chemicals, petrochemicals, trace metals and lubricants.

Farmers who spray pesticides manually are likely to be at a greater risk than those who use machines, the study stated.

Use of carcinogenic chemicals known as aromatic amines is blamed for higher rates of bladder cancer in hairdressing and sewing machine work.

An Australian report last week concluded that hair dye was unlikely to cause cancer in the general population. But hairdressers were still acknowledged to be at higher risk through prolonged exposure to aromatic amines.

-- (UNI) -- 11DF27.xml

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