Labour Research December 2006

Health & Safety Matters

Breast cancer is linked to farms

Women who have worked or grown up on farms have a higher risk of breast cancer, according to new research.

Andrew Watterson from Stirling University studied over 1,000 Canadian women, and found that those with breast cancer were nearly three times more likely to have worked in agriculture.

Cancer rates were even higher if the women went on to work in healthcare or car manufacturing, but Watterson said more work is needed to identify the links between different jobs and cancer.