Morticians at Higher Cancer Risks, Study Says
As if working around dead bodies isn’t creepy enough, a new study finds that millions of morticians and other funeral industry workers who use formaldehyde during embalming procedures are at increased risks of developing several forms of leukemia.
The risks of dying from the myeloid form of leukemia, in particular, increased the longer morticians were on the job working with the chemical agent, according to the study from the U.S. National Cancer Institute cited in a Reuters news report.
In a study of more than 400 funeral workers, cancer institute researchers were the first to focus on a possible link between formaldehyde exposure and cancers. Earlier studies have found a higher risk of death among funeral workers, but the cause was not widely understood until this study, the researchers said.
Causes of Death Examined
The study team examined reports of 168 funeral industry workers who died of various forms of leukemia and 48 who died of brain tumors. Those reports were then compared to 265 cases of funeral workers who died of other causes.
The study found that workers who spent more years embalming bodies or were otherwise exposed to embalming fluid for longer periods of time were more likely to have died from a myeloid leukemia, Reuters reports.
Millions are at Risk
More than two million workers in the United States have been exposed to formaldehyde in the last few decades, the researchers caution.
People who worked as anatomists, pathologists, and other careers in the funeral industry involving handling of bodies or biological specimens preserved with formaldehyde are at risk, they study’s wrote.
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