CAREX Canada

Improving data on cancer prevention where we work and live

CAREX Canada is developing estimates of how many Canadians are exposed to cancer-causing agents in our workplaces and communities.

Based at the University of British Columbia, CAREX Canada is led by Paul Demers, PhD, of the School of Environmental Health. It is an initiative of the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer's Primary Prevention Action Group.

The four-year project, launched in 2007, is based on a system developed by the Finnish Institute for Occupational Health. It involves a team of university faculty, staff, and students from many disciplines and has partners within and beyond the cancer community.

CAREX Canada works with government agencies, universities, and private industry. It gathers existing national data on Canadians’ exposures to cancer-causing agents (known as carcinogens). The focus will be on workplaces, as well as air, water, soil, food, and consumer products.

The project team will combine these data with information on where the carcinogens are found, industry locations, and population characteristics. Mapping these data will help the team to predict exposures.

The project's research challenge is to identify:

• the estimated number of Canadians exposed to specific carcinogens – such as asbestos, which is linked with lung cancer, and benzene, which is linked with leukemia;

• where Canadians come into contact with carcinogens;

• the levels at which they are exposed.

CAREX Canada’s goal is to generate exposure estimates and provide data that will help:

• identify the highest-priority carcinogens, and provide information for policy-makers who regulate these substances

• identify groups at higher risk of developing cancer based on where they work or live

• estimate the current and future number of cancers associated with past exposure; and

• identify knowledge gaps and priorities for future cancer research in Canada – such as targeted strategies to reduce exposures, and ways to improve cancer prevention programs.

Work underway

CAREX Canada has identified a list of carcinogens it will study. This involved considering more than 200 substances that may be present in Canadian environments and are either known, or suspected, to cause cancer.

The project’s work of gathering and mapping data on Canadians’ exposure to carcinogens is well underway. It is now sharing results with governmental and non-governmental organizations concerned about cancer prevention, and with researchers and health and safety professionals.

As well, CAREX Canada is currently creating a Canadian Workplace Exposure Database that contains national exposure measurement facts, plus information from research studies.

A second database is developing reliable estimates on the numbers of Canadians exposed to carcinogens through indoor and outdoor environments, and through food, drinks and consumer products.

Putting research into action

CAREX Canada will ensure that its research results are transformed into action by making them readily available online, including as a Cancer View Canada partner, among other strategies.

Outcomes

CAREX Canada is an important new resource for policy-makers and researchers working on cancer prevention. The data it generates will help them to:

• set priorities for prevention-related activities


• assess the impact of policy, regulations and interventions


• identify causes of specific cancers


• investigate why large geographic differences in cancer rates exist in Canada; and


• monitor trends in carcinogen exposure and cancer prevalence over time.

Project information will also benefit users such as health care providers, workers’ compensation authorities and the general public.

In the long term, the data will help prevent exposures to cancer-causing agents on-the-job and in the environment. This will benefit the health of all Canadians.