With massive reservoirs of oil and gas trapped in the rocks under our feet, the oil industry is eager to get fracking. But US evidence of chemical related deaths, soaring fatalities and over-exposure to deadly dust has raised seriously unhealthy questions. Evidence shows workers and the wider community are facing elevated exposures to known human carcinogens in the vicinity of fracking sites, including group 1 rated benzene and formaldehyde.
Workers are continuing to die of preventable lung diseases because of years of footdragging on a safer silica exposure standard, the US national union federation AFL-CIO has warned. AFL-CIO safety and health director Peg Seminario, testifying before a hearing of the national safety regulator OSHA, noted that changes to the current exposure standard – now more than 40 years old – were first proposed in 1997.
The selective promotion of scientific research to steer policy-making is a murky business, particularly as “the battle for the ear of the piper between big business and the ‘little guy’, who is often affected by pollution or hazardous substances, is so asymmetric,” a Nature editorial has warned. It cites the ongoing controversy in the US over a much delayed occupational silica dust exposure standard, noting: “Rather than challenging [safety regulator] OSHA for requesting conflict-of-interest disclosures, US politicians should be asking why all federal agencies do not require them.”
Full disclosure: Regulatory agencies must demand conflict-of-interest statements for the research they use. Editorial, Nature, 507, issue 7490, page 8, 6 March 2014. Risks 646.
A leaked document from the December 2013 round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations exposes the extent of chemical industry influence over secretive ongoing US-EU trade negotiations, independent researchers have found. Their report says chemical industry proposals to TTIP would have a ‘chilling effect’ on the regulatory environment, slowing down the implementation of precautionary decisions on toxic chemicals, undermining democratic decision-making and stifling the innovation of safer alternatives.
Toxic partnership: A critique of the ACC-CEFIC proposal for trans-Atlantic cooperation on chemicals, ClientEarth/CIEL’s joint report, March 2014. Leaked document from the December 2013 round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations. TUC Touchstone blog. The Guardian. Risks 646.
The French government’s new national cancer prevention plan includes an explicit aim to reduce the toll of occupational cancer through regulation, enforcement and substitution. Objective 12 of the action plan for 2014-2019 is ‘Preventing cancers related to work or the environment.’
President François Hollande’s news release (in French). Plan Cancer 2014-2019, Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, February 2014 (in French). EU-OSHA news report. Risks 643.
Experts on workplace dust and chemical control are pressing a message to government, employers, workers and the public that ‘almost all’ occupational cancers can be prevented. Commenting on the 4 February 2014 World Cancer Day, BOHS, the Chartered Society for worker health protection, highlighting “the unacceptably high number of deaths due to occupational cancers”.
BOHS news release. TUC occupational cancer briefing. Global unions ‘Zero Cancer’ campaign. Risks 642.
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) has refused to recommend that drycleaning workers who develop oesophageal or cervical cancer should qualify for industrial injuries benefit. An IIAC position paper concludes: “After reviewing the evidence, the council concluded that while there may be some evidence of an increased risk in certain sub-groups of workers, overall there was insufficient evidence to recommend changes to the list of prescribed diseases for which people can claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.” A 1997 paper in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine found higher rates of these cancers and cancer of the larynx in drycleaning workers.
Work as a dry cleaner and cancers of the oesophagus and cervix, IIAC position paper 32,.
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) has refused to recommend that hairdressers, barbers and textile worker workers who develop lung cancer should qualify for industrial injuries benefit, despite exposure to dyes and other chemicals in these jobs being clearly associated with increased rates of the disease. An IIAC position paper concluded: “Having considered the evidence for working with exposure to certain chemicals, the council concluded there was insufficient evidence to recommend adding bladder cancer in hairdressers, barbers and textile workers to the list of prescribed diseases for which people can claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.”
Bladder cancer in hairdressers, barbers and textile workers, IIAC position paper 31.
A global cancer research agency has called for “urgent” action to prevent cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a part of the World Health Organisation (WHO), made the call at the February 2014 launch of its World Cancer Report 2014.
WHO/IARC news release. Stewart BW, Wild CP, editors (2014). World Cancer Report 2014. Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer [order details]. BBC News Online. Risks 641.
The failure of the European Commission to deliver legislation on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is alarming, leading members of the Socialists and Democrats grouping (S&D) in the European Parliament have said. An industry lobbying and product defence campaign set out to dissuade the European Commission from acting, and January 2014 the Commission said it would delay action for a least one year.