EU action on carcinogens


Revision of the European Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive (2004/37/EC) began in 2004 but was shelved for almost ten years before becoming a priority once again for the European Commission following trade union pressure. In April 2018, the Commission published proposals to limit workers’ exposure to five more cancer-causing chemicals. This follows two previous amendments to the directive proposed by the Commission in May 2016 and January 2017, which together identified limit values for 21 carcinogens. The first amendment was adopted as a Directive (EU) 2017/2398 at the end of 2017. The second proposal for legislative amendments is currently under discussion. 


The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) aims to get binding occupational exposure levels (OELs) adopted for 50 priority carcinogens by the end of 2020 and is urging employers to engage in negotiations for further action to tackle work-related cancers. It says occupational cancers are the leading cause of work-related deaths, with more than 100,000 deaths every year in the EU. 


Although the UK is set to leave the EU “… you would hope that this will change international standards and therefore lead to UK compliance,” said Dan Shears, national officer for health and safety at the general union GMB. “On the other hand, the UK has a fairly poor track record of keeping up with advancements and changes to occupational exposure standards, so it is a bit of mixed picture.”