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Reducing Environmental and Occupational Cancer Risks Toolkit
Introduction
OVERVIEW
Over the last decades, the U.S. has made tremendous strides in reducing overall death rates from cancer, but overall incidence rates have not declined. As revealed in analysis by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “By 2050, we predict the total number of incident cases to increase by almost 50% as a result of the growth and aging of the U.S. population. A greater emphasis on cancer risk reduction is needed to counteract these trends.”
Despite CDC’s Healthy People 2030 Goal focused on promoting healthier environments to improve health, we are failing to apply existing knowledge to reduce environmental and occupational exposures associated with greater cancer risk. Moreover, despite increased attention to health equity in state cancer plans, there is a missed opportunity to address cancer disparities by engaging with organizations focused on environmental injustices, including the disproportionate exposures to toxic chemicals impacting communities of color, low-income populations (including working populations), and indigenous peoples.
Public health officials understand that control over carcinogenic exposures in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the products we use, and in the places we work requires collective action. 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.”
This toolkit aims to support state and local efforts to reduce cancer risk by curtailing exposure to chemical and radiological agents in our environment and workplaces.
ABOUT THIS TOOLKIT
This toolkit provides scientific evidence, information resources and risk reduction strategies to support state chronic disease programs and state cancer coalitions in addressing cancer risks associated with environmental and occupational agents.
Take next steps!
Now that you know what the Reducing Environmental and Occupational Cancer Risks: A Toolkit is, you can start using it. Here’s an overview of what to expect in the next sections of the toolkit:
How can we improve?