OSHA Planning Public Meeting on New York IBM Cancer Study

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is holding a public meeting later this month to discuss results of the first comprehensive government study of cancer rates among employees in the circuit board manufacturing industry.

The NIOSH study of job-related mortality and cancer among more than 34,000 former IBM workers in upstate New York found the total number of deaths from all causes and all cancers combined were lower than what would be expected from the general population. The workers were employed at IBM in Endicott between 1969 and 2011.

However, the Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin says the report found that deaths from specific types of cancer, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, mesothelioma, rectal cancer and testicular cancer were more frequent in some groups than would be expected.