What Proportion of Cancers Are Related to Occupation (1978)

This unsigned Lancet editorial is not a research study. It commented on a 1978 U.S. government report estimating the share of cancer related to occupation. Earlier estimates, it said, were about 1-5% (as printed), with one author giving 10-15%. The report suggested that roughly 13 to 18 (percent sign missing in scan) of total cancer deaths over the next three decades would come from work exposure to asbestos. It rested mainly on one follow-up of American shipyard workers. With five other agents added, the report suggested between 23 and 38 (again no percent sign) of total cancer mortality in coming decades might be occupationally related. The editorial faulted the report for not reviewing all asbestos studies and for giving no exposure data on the wider workforce. In British data, skilled manual workers had an all-cancer standardized mortality ratio of 113; skilled non-manual workers, 91. It judged this gradient less steep than the report implied, noting that occupation is only one factor in class differences in mortality; smoking and way of life matter too. It called the report fragile.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

From J-M's medical library

This copy comes from the Johns-Manville medical library. J-M listed it in its medical library index as no. 002159.

We publish an editorial for research and commentary: it shows what the medical literature in a leading asbestos company's own library said on the subject, and when. Our summary above is our own reading of it. The copyright stays with the publisher.