Canadian Court: Breast Cancer Cases in Lab Technicians are Work-Related

Three hospital lab technicians in British Columbia have won their case for workers' compensation following their breast cancer diagnoses in 2010 and 2011. In June 2016 the Canadian Supreme Court ruled in their favor, supporting their claim that long-term exposure to carcinogens in solvents and medical waste incineration they experienced on the job was a factor in causing their aggressive breast cancer. During the past few years, four other lab technicians have also developed breast cancer.

The workers' compensation agency in British Columbia did not originally support the claim, demanding scientific evidence proving that exposures to the chemicals directly led to the disease. However, the court ruled that “the workplace need only be of causative significance or more than a trivial or insignificant aspect in the development of a worker’s illness.”

Among agencies such as the American Public Health Association and the Interagency Breast Cancer and Environmental Research Coordinating Committee, there have been increasing demands for additional research into environmental factors that cause cancer including breast cancer. Health Care Without Harm and Practice Greenhealth support healthcare facilities that are working to limit the presence of chemicals of concern within their institutions, through the use of least toxic lab chemicals, green cleaning and alternatives to incineration of medical waste among other initiatives.

[Source: ScienceBlogs]