CURRENT ISSUES IN CANCER .4. SUPERFICIAL BLADDER-CANCER

Bladder cancer is almost certainly a product of the industrial revolution and the cigarette smoking that has accompanied it. Exposure to a chemical bladder carcinogen such as beta naphthylamine, benzidine, or 4-diphenylaniline2 can be proved in only a small proportion of patients and only a handful obtain industrial diseases benefit after developing ''Prescribed Industrial Disease C23.'' None the less, the continued use of known carcinogenic substances in British industry for many years after their identification, the wide range of industries with a known or suspected increased risk of bladder cancer, and our ignorance of the carcinogenic potential of many materials used in current manufacturing should be a cause for continuing concern.