Qld: ABC workers to move out of cancer scare office

AAP General News (Australia)
12-21-2006
Qld: ABC workers to move out of cancer scare office

The ABC says its Brisbane news team will abandon its studios today .. following an
investigation that's blamed the workplace for the high incidence of breast cancer among
female workers.

It says while the independent review couldn't pinpoint the cause of the cancer .. it's
concluded it's related to the office environment.

ABC radio reports other staff will be moved out in coming days.

Experts have spent the past five months conducting an investigation .. after it was
revealed 12 women who worked at the Toowong office in Brisbane's inner-west had been diagnosed
with breast cancer in the past 11 years.

Eight of the women worked in the newsroom .. and most had been there for more than five years.

ABC managing director MARK SCOTT's met with staff today to discuss the findings of
the investigation .. and tell them of the planned relocation.

Earlier this year Mr SCOTT said he wouldn't relocate staff unless the investigation
found evidence of a cancer cluster.

The study's shown women who worked at the office reported breast cancer at a rate 11
times higher than the general working community.

Almost 100 ABC staff members walked off the job in July to demand a relocation.

All female staff working at the Toowong office were immediately offered free mammograms
.. and a free counselling service was made available during the investigation.

Mr SCOTT's today extended that offer to women at other ABC sites around Australia.

AAP RTV jb/sb/maur/jlw/tm/cp

KEYWORD: BREAST (BRISBANE)

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