Next Month, the Cancer research arm of the World Health Organization is going to declare that working at night is a "probable" cause of cancer. The theoretical link between night work and cancer was once described as "wacky", but it is doubtful that the "wacky" label would have deterred the WHO anyway. And, if the WHO says the link is probable, then the American Cancer Association is going to adopt that stance.
The science says that one of two things is going on. It could be that sleep deprivation weakens the immune system so that it can't fight off the growth of cancer cells (or any other deadly disease). Not exactly earth-shattering and sounds more like a correlation than a cause & effect. Second, though, the cancer folks say that night work upsets the body's production of melatonin - which both induces sleepy feelings, and suppresses tumor growth.
For lawyers, none of us will probably live long enough to see the wave of litigation by wait staff, bar tenders, shift workers and health care folks who got cancer because they worked at night. With the science just now being published, and little alternative that is safer for the necessary work, the template for liability is simply not present. But, when the worker's comp agencies start making awards for night-shift cancer, you might as well start running commercials (which ironically are more prevalent at night).
On the good news side, Texans were apparently prescient when they agreed to allow the issuance of bonds to look for a cure for cancer. Add night-shift cancer to the list...although I would expect the cure to be "Go to Bed, Dang it".
The science says that one of two things is going on. It could be that sleep deprivation weakens the immune system so that it can't fight off the growth of cancer cells (or any other deadly disease). Not exactly earth-shattering and sounds more like a correlation than a cause & effect. Second, though, the cancer folks say that night work upsets the body's production of melatonin - which both induces sleepy feelings, and suppresses tumor growth.
For lawyers, none of us will probably live long enough to see the wave of litigation by wait staff, bar tenders, shift workers and health care folks who got cancer because they worked at night. With the science just now being published, and little alternative that is safer for the necessary work, the template for liability is simply not present. But, when the worker's comp agencies start making awards for night-shift cancer, you might as well start running commercials (which ironically are more prevalent at night).
On the good news side, Texans were apparently prescient when they agreed to allow the issuance of bonds to look for a cure for cancer. Add night-shift cancer to the list...although I would expect the cure to be "Go to Bed, Dang it".
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