Extreme carbon emissions are putting women at greater risk of developing breast cancer, new research has found.
Academics at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport from the University of Stirling hope the findings will help businesses and the government limit occupational exposure to air pollution in the future.
The team analysed the case of a woman who developed breast cancer after spending 20 years working as a border guard at the busiest commercial border crossing in North America.
The woman was one of, at least, five other border guards who developed breast cancer within 30 months of each other.
At another nearby crossing, a cluster of seven further cases was noted.
Dr Michael Gilbertson and Dr Jim Brophy, who led the research, said their findings “infer a causal relationship” between breast cancer and very high exposures to traffic-related air pollution containing mammary carcinogens.
A link between nightshift work and cancer was also identified.
Air quality concerns are a serious issue in Scotland, with Friends of Earth warning of serious health concerns in many city and town centre hotspots.
A protest will take place in Aberdeen later this month in an effort to force swifter action on air pollution.
Aberdeen City Council’s Air Quality Progress Report 2018 reveals 13 locations across the city with illegal level of toxins and nitrogen dioxide pollution.
Though significant steps have been taken to improve air quality – and the city has dropped off Friends of the Earth Scotland’s list of worst offenders – campaigners believe much work is still to be done.
Dr Gilbertson said the new research indicated the role of traffic-related air pollution in contributing to the increasing incidence of breast cancer in the general population.
“With this new knowledge, industry and government can plan for new designs for industrial and commercial facilities to cut down on the occupational exposures to traffic-related air pollution and for scheduling shift work to minimise disruption of sleep patterns,” he said.
The academics also considered whether nightshift work might exacerbate the exposures to mammary carcinogens in traffic-related air pollution.
They pointed to a previous study involving rats that found those exposed to continuous daylight developed tumours 36 per cent faster – and had 60 per cent more tumours – than those subjected to a normal photoperiod.
The doctors’ study focused on the worker compensation case of one woman, who was employed by the Canada Border Services Agency for two decades at the Ambassador Bridge, which crosses the Detroit River between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan.
The bridge – the busiest commercial border crossing in North America – carries 12,000 trucks and 15,000 cars each day.
The air pollution is severe and border guards in the traffic booths inhale many carcinogens, including those that result in breast cancer.