The RISCTOX chemicals database, developed by the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) and the Spanish union safety institute ISTAS, has gone live online, giving workers access to health and safety information on over 100,000 chemicals. According to ETUI, each chemical data ‘card’ specifies the chemical’s classification and labelling, its main work uses (solvent, cleaner, paint stripper, etc), how it affects health, and the occupational diseases it causes.

ETUI publication alert and RISCTOX database. Risks 661,

The asbestos industry’s attempt to put a healthy gloss on is unhealthy products is continuing, but its favourite consultant is facing renewed flak after his undeclared links to the industry were exposed. Toxicologist David Bernstein has been paid vast sums by asbestos firms and industry groups to write papers supporting continued asbestos use, with these appearing in scientific journals – but has declared he has “no conflicts of interest.” Now the scientific journal Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine has agreed to publish an erratum, admitting the author’s industry links.

RightOnCanada.ca. David Bernstein. Health risks of chrysotile asbestos, Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, volume 20, issue 4, pages 366-370, July 2014. Complaint to the journal. Background from Hazards and RightOnCanada on David Bernstein’s industry links. Risks 661.

Better regulation of hormone-disrupting chemicals linked to breast cancer, reproductive problems and other ill-effects could deliver massive cost savings, a report has concluded. The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) says exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may be costing up to €31 billion (£24.8bn) per year across the European Union (EU) and said the EU should set out a specific timetable by which EDCs must be identified and replaced with safer alternatives.

HEAL news release. CIEL news release. Risks 660.

Chemicals in products used to colour or wave hair could be the cause of higher levels of bladder cancer observed in hairdressers, researchers have concluded. A study published online in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine linked frequency of dye and perm use to raised levels of carcinogens found in hairdressers’ blood.

Gabriella M Johansson and others. Exposure of hairdressers to ortho- and meta-toluidine in hair dyes, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, published online first 9 June 2014.  doi:10.1136/oemed-2013-101960. Medical News Today. Risks 659.

Crystalline silica exposures kill over 1,000 workers a year in the UK – most from related-lung cancers – and leave many more fighting for breath. But, unlike its US counterpart, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) thinks the UK’s deadly silica exposure standard is just fine. Hazards magazine dismantles HSE’s excuses for not better regulating this extremely common workplace cancer-cause.

Hazards 126, April-June 2014.

A new guide from the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) says prevention of occupational cancers must be given a far higher priority. Using case histories, the brochure concludes the fight against work cancers can be won if trade unions and public authorities adopt coherent strategies.

ETUI publication notice and full report, Preventing work cancers: A workplace health priority, ETUI, 2014. Print version: ISBN 978-2-87452-311-3.

The paper reviews the indicators, trends, and recent solutions and strategies to tackle major global and country problems in safety and health at work. It notes that work-related illnesses that have a long latency period and are linked to ageing are clearly on the increase. The report concludes: “Globally 2.3 million deaths take place due to occupational injuries (318,000 deaths) and work-related diseases (2,022,000 deaths) annually. The biggest killers are work-related cancer (32 per cent); work-related circulatory diseases (23 per cent), cardiovascular and stroke; communicable diseases (17 per cent), in particular, in developing countries and farming, and occupational accidents (18 per cent).

Jukka Takala, Päivi Hämäläinen, Kaija Leena Saarela and others. Global Estimates of the Burden of Injury and Illness at Work in 2012, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, volume 11(5), pages 326–337, May 2014.

Researchers from the Center for the Study of Environmental Cancer in Monfalcone, Italy collected the most recent available data on mesothelioma incidence in order to determine the present trend of the epidemic. Using data from cancer and mesothelioma registries have been reviewed and supplementary information provided by researchers in the field, they found the “highest incidence rates are reported from some countries in Europe (United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Malta, Belgium), and in Oceania (Australia, New Zealand). Relatively low incidence/mortality rates are reported from Japan and from Central Europe. In many countries a trend to increase continues to be observed. Data are not available for the mostly populous countries.” They conclude the “mesothelioma epidemic does not show signs of attenuation. The lack of data for a large majority of the world does not allow that the consciousness of the risks related to asbestos exposure is reached.”

Claudio Bianchi and Tommaso Bianchi. Global mesothelioma epidemic: Trend and features, Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmentl Medicine, volume 18, number 2, pages 82-8, May 2014.

Exposure to cancer causing agents at work can and should be prevented, the UK organisation representing occupational hygienists has said. BOHS, the Chartered Society for worker health protection, is calling on employers to comply with the legal exposure limits for known carcinogens, urging the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to be “robust” in its enforcement of the law, and says it is “critical” the government demonstrates the political will to prevent unnecessary loss of life from work-related cancers.

BOHS news release. Risks 652.

This detailed bibliography of the occupational cancer literature and resources by Stirling University professor Andrew Waterson concludes a preventive approach is warranted. It notes: “Agreement is now growing among international agencies and many national regulatory agencies that greater regulation and enforcement is needed in taking precautionary measures because of the high human and economic costs of work-related cancers. Many control strategies are widely accepted, including removing workplace carcinogens, substituting less hazardous materials, and, when this cannot be done, rigorously isolating or controlling substances coupled with providing information that warns of the hazard. The challenges in taking these steps may be considerable, as evidenced by the increased use of asbestos in some countries.” The publication also includes an extremely helpful listing of ‘Carcinogen and Cancer Lists and Databases.’

Watterson A. Occupational Cancer. Oxford Bibliographies in Public Health. New York: Oxford University Press.