[Cancer mortality according to occupation: implications for prevention]

The implications for the prevention of cancer and for health promotion at work is illustrated with two examples from an analysis of cancer mortality by occupation of Swiss men, 1979-1982. The classical approach of industrial medicine to the reduction of pollutants via legislative, technical and informative measures is applied in the case of sinonasal carcinoma and pleural mesothelioma that is increased with furniture-makers. The fact that a comparable cancer mortality pattern linked to miscellaneous factors like smoking, asbestos, cement dust, alcohol, chemicals, nutrition etc. is observed for the various jobs of the building industry, requires an extensive health promotion effort uniting industrial medicine with organizational and individual approaches.