A Newcastle University study of Kooragang Island has found that between 1983 and 2006, 63 cancers were diagnosed among workers. The 58 men and five women experienced 18 types of cancer, the most common being melanoma (28 per cent), prostate (22) and bowel (13).
The report recommended an independent assessment of the Kooragang site and its processes to look at possible remediation and safety procedures and improvements.
It also suggested a cancer prevention and screening program, and that employees be encouraged to contact their doctors.
The company said it was implementing the recommendations.
''From our perspective our health and welfare is and always has been paramount,'' said the chief executive of Port Waratah Coal Services, Hennie Du Plooy. ''We take the study and the findings very seriously.''
The Hunter New England public health physician, Craig Dalton, said the findings were a concern that required further investigation. ''The first part is identifying an excess risk,'' he said. ''But I'm sure that the workers and the community will want to know why.''
Greens MP John Kaye said the report, which found Kooragang Island workers were nearly two to three times more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than the NSW and Australian populations, raised serious questions about the company's fourth coal terminal, or ''T4'', project, which is also proposed for Kooragang Island.
''In the absence of an air-tight explanation for elevated rates of cancers at Kooragang, it would be immoral to push ahead with T4 and expose yet more coal terminal workers to unacceptable risks,'' he said.
''The University of Newcastle team could not give Kooragang Island a clean bill of health. It's not possible to dismiss exposure to industrial contaminants as the cause of the substantially higher cancer rates, casting doubt over occupational health and safety at [T4].''
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