Industrial Aspects of Bronchiogenic Neoplasms

¹ Chief, Bureau of Chronic Diseases, California State Department of Public Health, Berkeley, California.

Lung cancer has increased strikingly in recent years; it now causes more than 18,000 deaths annually in the United States. Although much evidence incriminates cigarette smoking as a major factor in the disease, it is not the sole cause. Previous studies are cited to indicate the role played by occupational exposure.

Interviews with 518 lung cancer patients in California hospitals, and a like number of non-cancer "control" patients, confirmed the greater frequency of cigarette smoking among lung cancer patients. The interviews also covered life-long occupational history. Analysis of this data disclosed that the following occupational groups appeared with substantially greater frequency among the lung cancer case histories, as compared with the controls: welding and sheet metal workers doing welding; electric bridge crane operators, metal industry; construction and maintenance painters; commercial cooks; occupations in the extraction of lead, zinc and copper ore; steamfitters, boilermakers, asbestos workers; marine engineers; firemen, oilers and wipers. The correspondence of this list of occupations with those arising from other studies of occupational factors in lung cancer is demonstrated.

Further work is underway to confirm or refute the hypothesis that these occupations carry an excessive risk for lung cancer.