New findings on workplace cancers

Exposure to common substances at work increases the risk of developing cancers, according to new research published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Researchers working on the US government's Agricultural Health Study reported that exposure to the widely used pesticide diazinon increases the risk of lung cancer and possibly other cancers.

And men exposed to asbestos in the workplace run a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer, according to Mark Cullen from Yale University School of Medicine. The presence of pleural plaques was also associated with increased cancer risk. Cullen concluded that colorectal cancer screening "should be aggressively pursued" for workers exposed to asbestos.