More than half a million Nevada women are employed in occupations that put them at a higher risk for developing breast cancer. That’s according to a report out today from the nonprofit Breast Cancer Fund.
A review of more than a decade’s worth of data on breast cancer and work reveals some surprising – and concerning – links, especially for salon workers.
“We had heard some work on hairdressers and cosmetologists with regard to cancer generally, but seeing an up to five times higher risk for breast cancer specifically was a real surprise,” explains author Sharima Rasanayagam.
The report reveals a higher breast cancer risk for other professions as well, including lawyers, nurses, teachers, and first-responders. Women in these professions are exposed to potential carcinogens from a variety of sources, ranging from cleaning products to smoke. Many are also exposed to a less-obvious risk: night shift work, which was actually listed as a carcinogen back in 2009 by the International Agency for Cancer Research. Shift work disrupts the circadian rhythm, which basically means your body doesn’t get to repair itself at night.
Co-author Connie Engel says that as women have made strides in the labor force, occupational health research has failed to keep pace.
“A lot of times women are excluded from the occupational studies that are done,” she says. “We saw this with firefighters especially, where there are women firefighters in almost every fire department in the country but in the studies they’re often excluded.”
In addition to including more women in these studies, Engel says improvements to federal and state occupational safety guidelines are needed.
Read the full report here.