The Court of Appeal has ruled that where a claimant was exposed to carcinogenic amines through smoking and chemicals at work, the court could find that work had probably caused his bladder cancer.

Cookson v Novartis Grimsby Ltd [2007] EWCA Civ 261 dealt with a claim from an employee who developed bladder cancer in 2001 and who sued his employer. He had begun work with the employer in 1964. The employer denied liability on the basis that by the time the employee commenced work its systems of work had improved so that it was not in breach of a statutory duty or negligent in permitting exposure to chemicals containing amines known to be carcinogenic.

The employee had smoked 10-20 cigarettes a day before giving up in 1980.

Cigarette smoke contains the same carcinogenic amines that had been present in the workplace. The Court of Appeal upheld the original judge’s finding that the employee’s smoking and the employer’s practices had caused the bladder cancer. Occupational exposure was 7075% responsible, and smoking 25-30% responsible. The occupational exposure had more than doubled the risk of the employee developing bladder cancer as the result of smoking. The employee, nonetheless, established that the employer’s breach was the cause of his cancer on the balance of probabilities and won his claim.