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 fail to apply existing knowledge to reduce environmental and occupational exposures associated with greater cancer risk. Most state cancer plans have focused primarily on addressing cancer risk factors such as tobacco cessation, UV radiation, diet, and vaccinations. Still, many have not included a focus on environmental and occupational chemicals reduction. 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 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.

Case worker standing in front of a factory.
A busy, crowded street in the city.

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:

MODULE 1:

Find Power in Partnerships

Objective: How to use systems thinking to identify and promote a diverse array of partnerships to advance specific goals and strategies to reduce cancer risk.

Module 2:

Maximize Data & Expert Insights

Objective: Where to find and use data and information resources to help state health departments and state cancer coalitions target potential environmental and occupational cancer risk priorities.

Module 3:

Educate & Engage

Objective: How to find and use scientific data, as well as subject matter and community-based experts to justify the inclusion of environmental and occupational risk priorities in comprehensive cancer planning and risk reduction strategies.

Module 4:

Evidence-Informed Interventions

Objective: How to consider and examples of evidence-based and evidence-informed interventions to advance environmental and occupational cancer risk reduction strategies at the individual, institutional and policy levels.

Module 5:

Environmental Justice

Objective: How to address environmental racism to reduce health inequities.

Module 6:

State Case Examples

Objective: Gain inspiration from how other states have integrated new goals strategies to support environmental and occupational cancer risk reduction.

Resources

A compendium of resources documented in this tool kit.

How can we improve? 

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