Cancer rates are no greater in airline pilots

Airline pilots do not have a marked increase in risk of cancer attributable to cosmic radiation. Pukkala and colleagues (p 567) assessed the incidence of cancer among male airline pilots in the Nordic countries and related it to their occupational exposure to cosmic radiation. They found no overall increased risk, although some increase in skin cancer occurs in pilots who have been flying for many years. The influence of recreational exposure to ultraviolet light in this group, however, could not be quantified.


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Relevant Article

Incidence of cancer among Nordic airline pilots over five decades: occupational cohort study
Eero Pukkala, Rafael Aspholm, Anssi Auvinen, Harald Eliasch, Maryanne Gundestrup, Tor Haldorsen, Niklas Hammar, Jón Hrafnkelsson, Pentti Kyyrönen, Anette Linnersjö, Vilhjálmur Rafnsson, Hans Storm, and Ulf Tveten
BMJ 2002 325: 567. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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