NZ workers have unacceptably high exposures to carcinogens – they need better protection and long-term health monitoring
The New Zealand Carcinogens Survey (NZCS), commissioned by WorkSafe New Zealand, was the first to examine the prevalence of occupational carcinogens in the working population.
- The New Zealand Carcinogens Survey (NZCS), commissioned by WorkSafe New Zealand, was the first to examine the prevalence of occupational carcinogens in the working population.
- Workers in primary industries are exposed to the highest number of carcinogens at any level.
- Māori and Pacific workers and men are the most likely to be exposed to at least one carcinogen.
Work-related exposures
Work-related disease is estimated to account for 750-900 deaths a year in New Zealand. Cancer contributes to about half of these deaths and at least a third of work-related hospitalisations. These figures are largely based on overseas estimates applied to Aotearoa New Zealand health data. Establishing the number of workplace injuries is relatively straightforward but investigation of work-related cancers is much more difficult because:
Therefore, understanding the prevalence, frequency and distribution of exposure to work-related carcinogens is crucial.
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Which exposures matter?
- Until the NZCS report, New Zealand-specific data on work exposures to carcinogens have been lacking.
- It used a web-based exposure-assessment programme to estimate the likelihood of exposures and probable level based on questions to workers about substances, jobs and specific tasks.
How do we know which workplace exposures contribute to cancer risk? The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) regularly undertakes expert reviews of the relevant scientific literature to identify cancer-causing substances and practices. They classify exposures on the basis of the quality of evidence as:
What is to be done?
- However, it is important to concentrate on the unmistakable evidence that a large number of people are exposed to high levels of workplace carcinogens.
- But data alone are not sufficient; they need to inform action.
- There are too many examples of Aotearoa being slower than other countries to act when sufficient evidence exists.
- New Zealand was the last country in the world to halt the production of the toxic dioxin-contaminated herbicide 2,4,5-T, in 1987.
- A lack of dedicated health services for occupational health hampers progress in addressing work-related diseases in New Zealand.