European workers to gain better protection against cancer-causing chemicals
Toxic chemicals - Photo by Davide Baraldi from Pexels
(STRASBOURG) - EU employment ministers and the European Parliament reached a provisional deal Thursday to better protect workers from risks related to their exposure to carcinogenic and mutagenic substances.
The update to the carcinogens and mutagens directive, an EU law to protect workers from risks related to exposure to carcinogenic and mutagenic substances, gives workers greater protection due to the setting of exposure limits for acrylonitrile and nickel compounds and the lowering of the limits for benzene.
In addition, the Council and Parliament have agreed to extend the scope of the directive to reprotoxic substances, chemicals which may interfere with the human reproductive system.
The directive will be renamed the carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxic substances directive, or CMRD.) As a consequence, the limit values for 12 reprotoxic substances currently dealt with under another EU law will be transferred to the stricter carcinogens and mutagens directive.
Hazardous medicinal products are drugs which may lead to health risks for healthcare workers who handle these drugs and administer them to their patients. The Council and European Parliament want workers who deal with carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic drugs to receive better training on how to handle them safely. They also call on the Commission to issue guidelines on training, surveillance and monitoring.
The provisional agreement reached today will now be examined by the Council's Permanent Representatives Committee, which would need to endorse it. The formal vote in both the Council and the European Parliament will follow at a later stage.
Directive on carcinogens and mutagens at work European (Agency for Safety and Health at Work)