Ever increasing Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Drugs

According to latest reports, 11 million new cases of patients suffering from cancer are diagnosed every year

. It is predicted that by the year 2020, this figure will reach to 16 million. This situation is due to ever increasing pollution and population. Chemotherapy is the only solution since many decades for the treatment of various types of cancer.

A well known treatment for cancer is Chemotherapy. The treatment process contains use of many hazardous drugs. During the first world war, when several lives were in danger, sulphur mustard gas was used which effectively bought changes in the bone marrow of the sufferers. Since then it is used as anti-cancer agent. Apart from sulphur mustard gas, nitrogen mustards are also used which are less lethal and more effective for lymphoma patients. Exposure to these hazardous drugs can take lives and also it can save lives.

Chemotherapy can give relief to the patients suffering from different types of cancer but on the other hand it can adversely affect the oncology specialists and the healthcare workers. It can cause short term as well as long term effects that can be very lethal. Thus, guidelines and safety measures are need to be designed for the reduction of chances of occupational exposure to hazardous drugs.

Many pharmaceutical manufacturing industries are using more than thousands of cytotoxic and antineoplastic drugs for medicine manufacture. These drugs can be a boon for cancer suffering patients and an omen for manufacturers and healthcare workers. Since long time, the harmful characters of these drugs have been addressed. Use of safety equipments has become mandatory. Various occupational health communities and organizations have designed safety guidelines which have to be properly followed to avoid such situations and consequences. But the increased patient ratio, combination of various drugs, use of high-dose chemotherapy and use of antineoplastic drugs for treatment of many diseases can further increase the chances of exposures to these perilous drugs.

Ever increasing Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Drugs

By: Anjali Goswami

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