Carcinogen-Free Workplaces

 John Anderson, a refinery electrician from New Jersey who worked with asbestos, addressed the President's Cancer Panel about the need to strengthen cancer protection for workers. Then he handed the microphone to his wife, Bonnie, who looked gaunt and unsteady. She told the rest of their story – she was suffering from mesothelioma, and it was not because she ever worked with asbestos. She was the one who washed her husband’s dust-covered work clothes. Today, Bonnie Anderson is still battling her cancer, two years after the panel concluded in its report that reducing toxic exposures “should be the cornerstone of a new national cancer prevention strategy.” Had such a precautionary strategy been in place, the disease that has devastated this woman might have been avoided. We urge a new approach that moves us toward a carcinogen-free workplace and a cancer-free economy. It is unethical for a public health agency like NIOSH to sanction cancer risks to workers that are orders of magnitude greater than what is deemed acceptable for the general public. A new federal policy, if thoughtfully redesigned, would not only prevent cancer among workers, but also protect the health of families and communities.

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http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/2012/opinion-u.s.-policy...