Research Plus

Pesticide production workers

A systematic review and meta-analysis (21 papers met inclusion criteria) finds that workers involved in pesticide manufacturing have lower all-cause mortality than the general population, and a significant reduction in cardiovascular disease. Nevertheless, the review found a ‘lack of a healthy worker effect’ for some non-malignant diseases with significant (though small) raised standardised mortality ratios for some cancers, including cancers of the buccal cavity, pharynx, oesophagus, larynx and lung. Similar results were seen for the subgroup of workers exposed to phenoxy herbicides.

Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2009; 66(1); 7–15.  http://oem.bmj.com/content/66/1/7.abstract

Tags cancer evidence based practice hazardous substances

Occupational Health at Work February/March 2009 (vol. 05/5) pp41