scan of someone with lung cancer

It might go without saying that most lung cancers occur in people who smoke cigarettes. The CDC however, estimates that 10-20% of all cases of lung cancer happen in people that never smoked cigarettes or smoked very little. That amounts to between 20,000 and 40,000 new cases each year of lung cancer in individuals who did not have any significant history of smoking. This makes understanding other causes of lung cancer crucially important in understanding why lung cancer happens.

Some of these lung cancers may be caused by hereditary factors such as gene mutations. We have previously written on this subject. Many other cases of lung cancer in non-smokers may be caused by outside factors like work-related exposures. Radon, second-hand smoke, asbestos, and diesel exhaust may be to blame when lung cancer strikes.

Exposure to asbestos and diesel exhaust is common among railroad workers. Both can cause lung cancer in smokers and non-smokers alike. Studies have shown that diesel exhaust and asbestos are known causes of lung cancer in railroad workers. Many different crafts including carmen, brakemen, conductors, engineers, machinists, and other shop workers are exposed to asbestos and diesel exhaust in their work.

Diesel exhaust exposure was, and still is prevalent in railroad shops, in the yards, and often on the locomotives themselves. There are many reports of locomotives being kept running while being repaired inside shops around the country. Railroad workers working all day in these shops were constantly exposed to diesel exhaust.

 

 

Asbestos was found on the railroad for many years in asbestos pipe wrap in buildings and on locomotives. Railroad trainmen were often exposed to asbestos in this way. Shop workers, including machinists, carmen, boilermakers, and sheet-metal workers sometimes removed and replaced asbestos products on older locomotives with their bare hands. While today asbestos may be gone the risk of cancer remains because asbestos may take many decades to cause cancer.

These types of exposures put railroad workers at risk for lung cancer and other cancers, whether or not they smoked cigarettes. If you or a railroad worker you know has ever had lung cancer, it could have been caused by these railroad exposures at work. Call an experienced railroad cancer attorney today to discuss the facts.