Which cancers can be caused by exposure to chemicals at the workplace?
We are all familiar with accidental workplace injuries — falls, burns, fractures, and the like. If you are injured at your place of employment, you are entitled to workers’ compensation, and, in some particularly egregious instances of negligence, you may also be able to sue for premises liability. Less familiar personal injury cases do not revolve around momentary accidents, but develop over time due to contact with a chemical toxin. In either case, Louis P. Lombardi II & Associates, PC can be your staunchest ally.
Long-Term Chemical Exposure Can Lead to Cancer
More and more people have suffered, and are suffering, long-term ill effects, illnesses and death after being present at the site of World Trade Center attack, on September 11, 2001, or in the period of cleanup. This is because first responders, good Samaritans, and local residents were continuously exposed to chemicals that harmed them for days, weeks, months, and years after the terrible event. In seemingly much more benign situations, workers throughout the country (and the world) develop illnesses related to the toxic environments they work in, most often not suspecting that there are poisons around them doing them harm.
Though we generally hear less about these personal injuries because they are slow to develop and don’t usually make headlines, in many cases chemical toxins result in far worse physical damage than slip and falls or even crush accidents. Slowly, over time, particles of toxic chemicals are absorbed through the skin and mucous membranes, inhaled into the lungs, or ingested, resulting in long-lasting, often deadly, tissue damage and disease.
Types of Damage Caused by Chemical Exposure
Chemical exposure in the workplace can cause many different types of cancer and other diseases, including:
Lung Cancer
Employees who work in construction, coal or oil processing, or metal refineries are often exposed to asbestos, arsenic, chromium, tars, and silica. Any of these can cause lung cancer or related conditions, such as COPD and asbestosis, which may not develop until many years of being exposed to the toxins.
Bladder Cancer
The toxic fumes emitted during the production of aluminum, the processing of rubber, or in tanneries have been shown to cause bladder cancer.
Nasal Cancer
Individuals exposed to formaldehyde, wood dust, or high levels of isopropyl alcohol are at great risk of developing nasal cancer.
Cancer of the Larynx or Pharynx
Cancers of the larynx or pharynx can also be caused by exposure to asbestos or isopropyl alcohol.
Mesothelioma
Television advertising has made most of us familiar with mesothelioma, one of the more commonly known work-related cancers that results from exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma commonly develops in ship workers, construction personnel, and HVAC (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning workers). It is a deadly cancer that develops when asbestos fibers lodge in the lining of the lungs.
Asbestosis
Asbestosis though not deadly can be incapacitating. In this disease, asbestos fibers lodge in the air sacs of the lungs.
Lymphatic and Blood Cancers
Workers routinely exposed to benzene, herbicides or X-ray equipment can develop cancers of the blood or of the lymphatic system.
Skin Cancer
While all of us are in danger of developing skin cancer, workers who work out-of-doors, such as landscaping and construction workers, are at much greater risk. Employees who are ex