Cancer In The Workplace: Percival Pott To The Present

Our plain-English summary of Cancer In The Workplace: Percival Pott To The Present, by S.R. Cowles (1978).

The study

• Author: S.R. Cowles
• Published: Military Medicine 143(6):395-400, June (1978)
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 004247. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This 1978 article was a narrative overview written by a Navy physician. It was not a study with its own data. The author outlined known or suspected cancer-causing agents commonly found at Naval installations, particularly shipyards, and stated that the list was not exhaustive. The author described the cigarette as the most common carcinogen in any shipyard. On asbestos, the author wrote that it was still present in shipyards, mainly on older ships, and was still used in steam line pipe hangers and gaskets. The author added that ripping out, handling and disposing of old asbestos remained a serious potential problem, because ventilation was often poor and workers not directly involved were still exposed. The author noted that trace nickel and chromium had been found in asbestos, and that the safety of substitutes such as fibrous glass had been questioned. Other agents discussed included welding fumes, nickel, arsenic, MOCA, vinyl chloride, PCBs and trichloroethylene. The author concluded that regular health monitoring with selected screening, plus follow-up of significantly exposed former workers, appeared to be the most feasible approach.

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.

What the study did and found

• Design: Narrative overview of known and suspected occupational carcinogens; no original data collected or analysed
• Who was studied: No study population; the article concerned carcinogens commonly found at Naval installations, particularly shipyards, and the workers there
• Exposure: Multiple agents: cigarettes, actinic and ionizing radiation, asbestos (fiber type not specified; still used in steam line pipe hangers and gaskets), fibrous glass, welding fumes, nickel, chromium, arsenic, cadmium, benzidine, carbon tetrachloride, NA-22, MOCA, vinyl chloride, PCBs and trichloroethylene
• Main results:
  • The author described the cigarette as the most common carcinogen in any shipyard
  • Asbestos was still present in the shipyard, primarily on older ships
  • Rip-out, handling and disposal of old asbestos remained a serious potential problem
  • Ventilation was often poor, and workers not directly involved with asbestos rip-out were still exposed
  • The safety of substitutes such as fibrous glass had been questioned
  • Nickel and chromium had been found in trace amounts in asbestos
  • Welders had been shown to have suspiciously high rates of pulmonary cancer compared with other occupations
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that, for now, regular health monitoring with selected screening for the working population, with conscientious follow-up of significantly exposed former workers, appeared to be the most feasible approach
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author stated that the article was not an exhaustive list of all known occupational carcinogens

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Gasket.

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