In 2012, the World Health Organization issued the Asturias Pledge – a call for the primary prevention of environmental and occupational contributors to cancers. Among the actions, the pledge calls on governments to include environmental and occupational preventive measures as part of national cancer control programs and ensure intense application of national and international standards for environmental and occupational carcinogens. Among the goals set by the United States Department of Health and Human Services in its Healthy People 2030 is to “Promote healthier environments to improve health.”

To help communities address environmental carcinogens, the Cancer Prevention Across the Lifespan project has partnered with the Center for Sustainable Production, UMass Lowell to develop a toolkit to support state-wide efforts to advance risk reduction efforts associated with exposure to chemical and radiological agents in our environment and workplaces.  

The toolkit provides scientific evidence, information resources and risk reduction strategies to support state chronic disease programs and representatives of their cancer coalitions in addressing cancer risks associated with environmental and occupational agents in state-wide cancer prevention and control plans and will be available in late 2023.