Issue:

There are approximately 60 well-established workplace carcinogens. However, there are many more industrial chemicals and other agents that are suspected to cause cancer, and still more that have never been studied. Currently, Canada lacks any rapid means to assess whether there is an increased risk associated with an exposure or what the risk of cancer is among people with the same job or working in the same industry. The major challenge is that, although Canada collects very good information on every new cancer that is diagnosed, there is no way to identify where these patients worked. Recently, Statistics Canada linked data from the 1991 long form Census to the Canadian Cancer Registry, a national database created with data from all the provincial and territorial tumour registries. The resulting database includes 2.7 million people. The study will analyze this database to identify whether there is an increased risk of cancer associated with suspected carcinogens. It will also conduct a series of analyses to see whether some groups of people with the same job or in the same industry have an increased risk. These analyses will contribute to the recognition of causes of cancer that can then be targeted for prevention efforts.

Objectives:

The objectives of this study are to:
1) Test topical and relevant hypotheses related to occupational exposures in the etiology of cancer.
2) Target cancer sites and suspected carcinogens for informed hypothesis generating analyses.
3) Conduct a global analysis of relationships between occupation and cancer in Canada.

Broad objectives of this study include the creation of a platform for surveillance of occupational cancer in Canada, identification of industries and target exposures for prevention and risk mitigation efforts and the generation of hypotheses for future etiologic research.

Anticipated Results:

To communicate the results directly to relevant stakeholders, such as the wood industry trade associations and the unions representing wood workers for the wood dust study, and through relevant meetings, such as the next OCRC/IWH shiftwork symposium. Reports will also be available via the OCRC website. The primary research outcome to be derived from this research will be the publication of peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts. The global analysis will be summarized in a report with detailed results provided in an appendix to provide a reference for scientists and policy-makers. Additional efforts to disseminate the findings from this research will be made in an effort to guide policy and regulatory advisory groups. This includes presentations of the research to the Occupational Cancer Research Centre steering and advisory committees, as well as to our peers at scientific conferences targeted for occupational health professionals

Investigators:

Paul A. Demers (Cancer Care Ontario, Occupational Cancer Research Centre)