Risk
factors for cancer which people create by making changes in their world may
be thought of as the price for industrialization.
Ionizing radiation:
In the latter part of the 19th century over half of certain groups of miners
working in the Joachimsthal and Schneeburg mines of Central Europe died of
lung cancer. High lung cancer rates were also observed in miners digging
copper, lead and zinc from the Colorado plateau in the United States during
thew first half of the 20th century. In both cases disease was induced by
exposure to radioactivity in the mines. Occupational exposure occurs in
uranium mines
Manufacturing:
The manufacture of various substances can lead to cancer. One example is
bladder cancer from the dye-stuff, betanaphthylamine which was seen in
Europe and North America until exposure was controlled through occupational
health and safety initiatives. Now it has reappeared in Southern Asia where
industrialization has exported these risks to contexts not appreciated by
people who live and work there. Yet another example has been exposure to
asbestos in Quebec, Canada, and to asbestiforme erionite in Turkey, both
with an association with mesothelioma.
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