Institute of Explosives Engineers is supporting an awareness campaign concerning bladder cancer in EOD veterans.

Institute of Explosives Engineers is supporting an awareness campaign concerning bladder cancer in EOD veterans. Please take a minute to read this.

PURPOSE
To alert former ATOs to the apparent prevalence of bladder cancer and recommend a simple testing regime which can lead to early detection which is essential for the best possible outcomes.  

THE THREAT
There is anecdotal evidence emerging that the prevalence of bladder and related cancers amongst former ATOs and ATs is unusually high. Those most affected appear to have had contact with various carcinogenic substances, including Nitrobenzene widely used in PIRA devices from around 1971- 1991 whilst performing EOD duties, although it is known that it is not the only potential cause of bladder cancer. If identified early, bladder and other cancers, can be successfully treated. 

In the early stages, bladder cancer rarely causes pain but most often leads to urinary tract and bladder infections, frequency or difficulty peeing and, most often, varying concentrations of blood in the urine which may not be visible to the naked eye. It is important to note that these symptoms may also result from non-cancerous causes and there is also clinical evidence that the emergence of bladder cancer frequently occurs thirty or more years after exposure to carcinogens. Despite the passage of time, early detection significantly improves the chances of successful outcomes, and this may now be achieved through a simple six monthly pee test. 

SO WHAT?
There are now medically proven, commercial urine self-test kits, as follows:

www.icletest.co.uk Between £10 and £20 each, very simple to use.
Siemens MultiStixGP  68p each – a little complicated to use.

Both detect small amounts of blood in the urine (and other things too in the case of the Siemens test). Other tests may be becoming available. In the event of a positive result DON’T PANIC simply go to your GP to get more thoroughly checked out.

WHAT NEXT – AN SOP
As a group of aging veterans, cancer of various sorts will likely catch some of us, however, for those exposed to the hazards of potentially cancer causing carcinogens during the course of EOD duties it would seem that it is well worth routinely taking a simple test to significantly increase our chances of well being. The MOD have made clear they do not yet have sufficiently robust data to acknowledge a problem exists. Therefore, if you were prepared to make your own participation in testing known, in confidence, and report any positive results it would greatly assist the battle get the funding to launch the professional academic work necessary to fully understand the true prevalence amongst EOD veterans.

With hindsight a pee test should have been a mandatory health SOP for EOD operators, however, you will all recall that aside from totally ineffective surgical gloves, it was an aspect of the job which was largely ignored. So please as a matter of retrospective SOP do start your own pee test and ping  eodveteran@icloud.com to say you are going to do it.  We won’t pass on your details to anyone, and it’s not for clinical data – just to say you are participating. 

There are others who we know in our cohort who, over the past twenty years, have gone through this and survived. They’d happily talk in strict confidence with any of you who may face this challenge: a sort of referring up! 

If you are in touch with others who may be affected do pass the word.