The cancer registry as a tool for detecting industrial risks

The cancer registry plays a role both in the generation and testing of hypotheses of cancer risks in relation to occupation. Most industrial risks have been detected by alert clinicians; but an increased risk of nasal cancer in relation to wood work was also observed by the Danish Cancer Registry. Although 55 out of 81 cancer registries in the world record occupation, this information is not fully exploited. Emerging associations should be compared internationally and followed by independent testing in studies of the cohort as case-control studies. Cancer registries may be useful in both, but to that end records must be stored for decades both in industry and in the registry, and they must carry personal identification. Linkage of records for medical purposes should be legal and subject to supervision by a data protection board.