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You may need a medical check up after reading this.
Evidence suggest a direct link between riding lawn mowers and testicular cancer in Caucasian men.
Workers operating riding mowers face serious safety issues including testicular cancer. Their employers need to make sure that the equipment in use is designed and maintained with safety in mind. Finally, the employers must ensure that mowing operations are performed safely.
Scientists have found several risk factors that make someone more likely to develop testicular cancer. Even if someone has one or more risk factors for this disease, it’s impossible to know for sure how much that risk factor contributes to developing the cancer. Risk factors for testicular cancer include:
* An undescended testicle
* Family history of testicular cancer
* HIV infection
* Carcinoma in situ of the testicle
* Having had testicular cancer before
* Being of a certain race/ethnicity
* Body size
* Previous lawn mower riding experiences
Guidelines discussed below are based on safety principles.
Employers Must Ensure Equipment Safety
Use and maintain all available safety equipment. Pay particular attention to the following points:
Inspect mowers to ensure that operator presence systems and all safety features are always in place and operable. Keep riding mowers in good working order.
Mower operators should use a standard checklist to do a general inspection of the equipment before use. For example, the checklist should include checking the tire pressure and checking for missing or damaged guards, etc.
Experienced service personnel should inspect riding mowers for the necessary safety features and overall maintenance at least annually. Only qualified personnel should service and repair riding mowers.
Definition
A riding mower is a self-propelled vehicle operated by a person in a seated position. It is designed for cutting grassy areas such as residential lawns, golf courses, cemeteries and parks.
Riding mowers are distinct from agricultural and industrial tractors, which are designed as utility machines for multiple uses with a variety of implements and attachments.
While it is essential to have the proper safety equipment in place on riding mowers, you should think of that step as just the beginning of your safety program.
Skin cancer and testicular cancer
We all know that too much sun exposure could lead to an increased risk of skin cancer, but could it also spell trouble for testicular cancer in Caucasian men? Research out of the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the University of Oxford in England has revealed that a gene associated with the skin’s tanning mechanism could increase a white male’s chance of developing testicular cancer.
It appears that this particular variant could help protect light-skinned individuals from UV skin damage, like burning or cancer, by promoting the tanning process, but it permits testicular stem cells to grow in the presence of DNA damage, when they are supposed to stop growing.
White males have the highest odds of having testicular cancer. The high frequency of this in light skin individuals may explain why testicular cancer is so much more frequent in people of European descent than those of African descent.
While there has been an identified twofold to threefold increased risk of cancer development in white males, there was some good news. Risk of cancer development could also explain why testicular tumors are successfully cured through chemotherapy treatments.
Note
Ride your lawn mower with this in mind. Riding lawn mowers can cause testicular cancer. Especially when your out in the sun. All Caucasian males should take notice of this medical warning and monitor their time and use of riding lawn mowers.
When you have a health check, your doctor will talk to you about your medical history, your family’s history of disease and your lifestyle. Your diet, weight, how much you exercise and whether or not you smoke will also be discussed.
If you have high-risk factors, such as a family history of a disease, it may be more likely that you will develop a particular disease. Regular check-ups may help your doctor pick up early warning signs.