Deal struck on rules to protect workers from cancer-causing chemicals

European lawmakers reached a provisional agreement to update the rules on protecting workers from the risks of exposure to cancer-causing substances.

On early Thursday morning (16 December), the European Parliament’s negotiators and the Slovenian presidency of the EU Council reached a provisional deal to update the carcinogens and mutagens directive. This EU law protects workers from the risk of exposure to carcinogenic and mutagenic substances.

“This is an important step towards higher protection of around 1 million workers from dangerous chemical substances,” Commissioner for social rights Nicolas Schmit tweeted immediately after the agreement.

The Commission had proposed in September 2020 to limit workers’ exposure to cancer-causing chemicals further. This initiative is also part of the Commission’s commitment to fighting cancer under Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.

The Commission’s spokesperson told EURACTIV that thanks to today’s agreement to update the carcinogens and mutagens Directive, workers “will benefit from greater safeguards due to the setting of the occupational exposure limits for acrylonitrile and nickel compounds and the lowering of the limits for benzene.”

Janez Cigler Kralj, Slovenian minister for social affairs, called this agreement another step  “to keep workers safe from substances which may lead to cancer or other illnesses.”

Commenting on the deal, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) Deputy General Secretary Claes-Mikael Ståhl said this is “an important victory for working people”.

Adding that it comes “at a time when 100,000 people still lose their lives every year in Europe from work-related cancer, and many more suffer fertility problems as a result of exposure to carcinogenic substances.”

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Reprotoxics and HMPs included in the regulation

Cindy Franssen, parliament’s shadow rapporteur and Belgian MEP from the centre-right group (EPP), was happy with the reached agreement.

“As Parliament, we were able to convince the Council to accept the inclusion of reprotoxic and hazardous medicinal products (HMPs) in the directive, which we have been calling on for years,” she said. 

Reprotoxic substances may interfere with the human reproductive system as they pose severe threats to fertility and unborn children. They are present in many working environments as they are used in plasticizers and materials such as glass. 

For 11 of these substances, a binding occupational limit value will be introduced in the annexe to the directive. Consequently, the directive will be renamed the carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxic substances directive (CMRD).

In the meantime, HMPs can cause adverse health effects, such as certain types of cancer and reproductive disorders, while being administered and prepared by health care staff. 

With this new deal, European lawmakers want workers who deal with carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic drugs to receive better training on how to handle them safely.

Lucia Ďuriš Nicholsonová, Slovakian MEP from Renew group and chair of social affairs committee after concluding the negotiations, said that “thanks to the revised legislation, thousands of cases of adverse health effects and deaths will be prevented every year.”

Franssen has put that ambition in numbers. “The deal that was reached tonight is a milestone for the protection of more than 12.7 million healthcare workers in Europe, including 7.3 million nurses,” she said. 

She added that there is “no excuse” for workers to be exposed to unnecessary health risks just by doing their job in the 21st century. 

Additionally, the Commission will issue guidelines on training, surveillance and monitoring of HMP.

This is a fourth update of the carcinogens and mutagens directive. The provisional agreement will have to be formally endorsed by both Parliament and Council before coming into force.

The three previous legislative amendments to the directive introduced new or revised occupational exposure limit values for a total of 26 carcinogenic or mutagenic substances to which workers across Europe can potentially be exposed. 

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[Edited by Gerardo Fortuna/ Alice Taylor]

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