Cancer cluster among Sydney Harbour Bridge workers triggers investigation

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDOct 14 2010

There are reports of a cancer cluster among Sydney Harbour Bridge workers with at least eight known cases that unions believe are linked to the use of lead paint. The Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) will investigate the matter. Of the eight workers five have already died and all of them had been involved in painting and maintaining the bridge for more than 10 years, the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) said. This included scraping off lead paint, initially with little protective equipment.

According to the CFMEU state secretary, Mal Tulloch the cancers ranged from lung, bone marrow and kidney cancer. Kidney cancer has been associated with elevated levels of lead in animals. “We believe there's a cluster: the whole site has been contaminated with lead since day one…These guys love working on this iconic site and they recognize that it is a dangerous occupation. But getting ill because you are inhaling particles is totally preventable, and the RTA needs to act on this quickly,” he said.

In as early as 2000, a stop-work order was issued on sections of the bridge by the Environment Protection Authority following concerns that carcinogenic paint particles were being released during grinding and sand blasting. Also a health-monitoring program was measuring the exposure to lead and other chemicals for all workers on the bridge. This included blood testing for lead and zinc every six months, full blood and biological testing once a year and lung testing every three years. According to an RTA spokeswoman, “The safety standards and monitoring process has proven effective, with bridge workers' current blood lead levels falling well below the Work Cover guidelines…The RTA holds no records of staff working on the bridge having cancer and a link between the Sydney Harbour Bridge and cancer has never been previously raised by the unions.” The unions however feel that the RTA knew all this while.

According to Professor Bruce Armstrong a public health expert at Sydney University a history of exposure to lead could be responsible for a cancer cluster, but if there was a mix of different cancers, it was “much less likely we're dealing with some specific point of exposure”.

Cancer Council Australia chief executive Ian Olver however feels differently, “Lead has been very loosely linked to lung cancer, and stomach cancer, and there is an even smaller association suggested for brain and kidney cancer, and bowel cancer…There is some evidence but not overwhelming, but clearly if a concern like this has been raised it will have to be investigated,” he explained.