Ontario hosts first research centre for occupational cancer
Wayne Fraser was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 1997. Today, Fraser is cancer-free, but like many other cancer patients, there was no way of knowing the cause of the disease or whether it was related to years of exposure to carcinogens in the workplace.
This uncertainty in the area of occupational cancer may be about to change with the launch of Canada’s first Occupational Cancer Research Centre. Established through the collaboration of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB), Cancer Care Ontario, United Steelworkers (USW) and the Ontario division of Cancer Care Society, the new research centre will be devoting its studies to help identify, prevent and ultimately eliminate workers’ exposure to cancer-causing agents in the workplace.