It has the distinction of being the first reported form of occupational cancer, and was initially identified by Percivall Pott in 1775.

Chimney sweeps' carcinoma was first described by Percivall Pott in 1775 who postulated that the cancer was associated with occupational exposure to soot.

[3][4] The cancer primarily affected chimney sweeps who had been in contact with soot since their early childhood.

Spencer in 1890 that sweat running down their bodies had caused soot to accumulate in the rugae of the inferior surfaces of the scrotum, with the resulting chronic irritation causing scrotal cancer,[6] but this was shown to be an incorrect artifact of the method used to stain his microscope slides.

Passey, a research physician at Guy's Hospital in London produced malignant skin tumors in mice exposed to an extract made from soot, demonstrating the presence of carcinogenic substances in soot which were the likely cause of cancer of the scrotum in chimney sweeps.

[5][7] In the 1930s, Ernest Kennaway and James D. Cook of the Research Institute of the Cancer Hospital in London (later known as the Royal Marsden Hospital), discovered several polycyclic hydrocarbons present in soot that are potent carcinogens: 1,2,5,6-dibenzanthracene; 1,2,7,8-dibenzanthracene; and 1,2-benzpyrene (3) benzo[α]pyrene.

Benzo(α)pyrene interacts with deoxyguanosine in DNA, damaging it and potentially starting the processes that lead to cancer.

[10] Young children, between the ages 5 and 11, were often hired for their ability to fit through the narrow chimney chutes.

The lack in hygiene standards coupled with working naked allowed for repeated skin exposure to toxins in chimney soot, a possible cause for this disease.

[11] Sir Percivall Pott (6 January 1714 – 22 December 1788) London, England) was an English surgeon, one of the founders of orthopedy, and the first scientist to demonstrate that a cancer may be caused by an environmental carcinogen.

This was the first occupational link to cancer, and Pott was the first person to demonstrate that a malignancy could be caused by an environmental carcinogen.

Pott's early investigations contributed to the science of epidemiology and the Chimney Sweepers Act 1788.

Pott describes chimney sweeps' carcinoma thus:It is a disease which always makes it first attack on the inferior part of the scrotum where it produces a superficial, painful ragged ill-looking sore with hard rising edges.....in no great length of time it pervades the skin, dartos and the membranes of the scrotum, and seizes the testicle, which it inlarges [sic], hardens and renders truly and thoroughly distempered.

The fate of these people seems peculiarly hard … they are treated with great brutality … they are thrust up narrow and sometimes hot chimnies [sic], where they are bruised burned and almost suffocated; and when they get to puberty they become … liable to a most noisome, painful and fatal disease.The suspected carcinogen was coal tar, and possibly arsenic.

[2] Stage A2 is when the disease moves to surrounding areas, including the penis, testis, pubic bone, and perineum.

[2] Chimney sweeps' carcinoma prognosis depends heavily upon the presence or absence of lymph node involvement.

[16] Incidence of chimney sweeps' carcinoma was reduced when protective work clothes were introduced.