Unions in Europe are to become ‘REACH ambassadors’ in companies using chemicals. ETUC and IndustriAll Europe, part of the global union federation covering workers in the chemical sector, say they “are calling on their member organisations to alert employers about their responsibilities through a new campaign in collaboration with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).”
Another study links night work to breast cancer
A study has reinforced concerns that women undertaking night work can face an increased risk of breast cancer. Reporting their findings online in the International Journal of Cancer, the French study concludes the risk of developing breast cancer was 30 per cent higher in women who had worked nights compared to women who had never worked nights.
Florence Menegaux and others. Night work and breast cancer: a population-based case-control study in France (the CECILE study), International Journal of Cancer, published online ahead of print 26 June 2012. DOI: 10.1002/ijc.27669 [abstract]. Inserm news release. Science Daily. Risks 562,.
UK dust standard leaves waste workers in peril
The waste industry must adopt “much lower exposure limits” for dust at work or workers will be left at risk of potentially life-threatening occupational diseases, a study has concluded.
BOHRF project description. Review of health risks for workers in the waste and recycling industry, IOM, 2012 [pdf]. Risks 561.
Moral fibre
A Swiss billionaire and a Belgian baron have been sentenced to 16 years in prison after being found guilty of corporate manslaughter. After a stunningly successful grassroots campaign for justice, the former Eternit executives were convicted by an Italian court of causing the asbestos-related deaths of more than 3,000 people. NB. The prison terms were increased to 18 years in an appeal case. But the conviction was overturned in 2014, with the Court of Cessation dismissing the charges because they were out of time.
British government must act on work cancer findings
Urgent action from the government is required to deal with the huge death toll from work-related cancer, the TUC has said. The TUC call came as government-backed research published in the British Journal of Cancer confirmed 37 new cases of occupational cancer are diagnosed every day of the year, with a worker dying of the condition caused by their job once every hour around the clock.
Unions call for action on diesel fumes cancers
Unions have called for urgent action to protect workers and the public from diesel exhaust fumes after the common workplace hazard was confirmed as a proven cause of cancer in humans. An expert panel convened by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a United Nations body, announced on 11 June 2012 that diesel had been reclassified as a top rated ‘Group 1’ carcinogen. The UK union confederation TUC said: “This research proves categorically what many unions have claimed for years which is that exposure to diesel exhaust is a significant workplace killer. Unfortunately many employers see diesel exposure as being something they can do nothing about. This is not the case.” They industry lobby was accused of using dirty tricks to undermine the case for the higher diesel cancer rating.
IARC news release, 12 June 2012. IARC Monographs – volume 105, Diesel and gasoline engine exhausts and some nitroarenes. The Pump Handle and related article on the industry’s bid to undermine the evidence. BBC News Online. Risks 560.
US rules on workplace toxics stalled
Workers in the US are suffering slow, agonising deaths from occupational diseases because improved standards on well-established killers like beryllium and silica, both linked to cancer and serious lung diseases, are being stalled by industry interference and a legislative system that can keep new rules on the back burner indefinitely. Rena Steinzor, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and president of the Center for Progressive Reform, said: “OSHA hasn’t made a serious run at regulating chemicals in the workplace in a couple of decades.”
Preventing work cancers is possible and preferable
A dispute about priorities for cancer prevention simmered in the medical press, with top occupational and environmental cancer experts hitting back at those who said the focus should be limited to improving ‘lifestyle’. The debate resurfaced in The Lancet Oncology in June 2012, with US and UK academics challenging the view “that people will be diverted from addressing their risky lifestyles by too much public concern about environmental and occupational exposures,” adding: “This view implies that people cannot hold two thoughts in their heads at the same time and we cannot as a society try to prevent cancer with several causes.”
Jamie Page, Paul Whaley, Andrew Watterson and Richard Clapp. Priorities for cancer prevention, The Lancet Oncology, volume 13, issue 6, Page e230, June 2012. Risks 559.
US officials recognise post-9/11 dust cancers
People who developed cancer after being exposed to the toxic ash that was dispersed over Manhattan when the World Trade Center (WTC) collapsed on 9 September 2001 would qualify for free treatment of the disease and potentially hefty compensation payments under a rule proposed by US federal health officials. They say 50 different types of cancer should be added to the list of sicknesses covered by a $4.3 billion fund set up to compensate and treat people exposed to the toxic smoke, dust and fumes in the months after the incident.
New York Times, 8 June 2012. World Trade Center Health Program.
Fracking workers in deadly peril
If you work in the hydraulic fracturing industry – better known as “fracking”, a process used to free natural gas and oil from shale rock – you may be exposed to high levels of crystalline silica, putting you at risk of silicosis, lung cancer and other debilitating diseases. The warning came in a 22 May 2012 letter sent by US unions to top federal safety agencies.
AFL-CIO blog and letter. NIOSH science blog. Bloomberg. Risks 558.