Research shows higher cancer risk for flight crews

London - New research released Wednesday showed airline flight crews had a higher than normal rate of skin and breast cancer.

Researchers at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik found that flight attendants who had worked for five or more years were more likely to develop breast cancer.

And in a separate study, scientists at the Stockholm Center for Public Health in Sweden uncovered an increase in malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, among both male and female cabin crew.

Previous studies have also suggested that skin cancer and possibly acute myeloid leukemia were more common in male pilots and that female flight attendants had a raised risk of breast cancer.

"There is mounting evidence that cabin crew appear to have an increased risk of malignant melanoma and breast cancer," Dr Elizabeth Whelan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States said in a commentary on the research studies published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Whelan said higher doses of cosmic ionizing radiation were found at higher altitudes. Doses that flight crews are exposed to have been increasing over time as longer flights at higher altitudes have become more common.

But she said more research was needed to determine whether the increased cancer risk is due to work or other lifestyle factors. Further studies being done in the European Union and the United States might provide more answers, Whelan added. -- Reuters

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