04/02/2019 (Agence Europe) – Firefighters are reported to be particularly exposed to carcinogens, mutagens and reprotoxics, said the EPSU, the union of public service employees in Europe, on Monday 4 February. Firefighters would thus be particularly exposed to prostate cancer and skin melanomas. The EPSU calls for a strengthening of the European regulatory framework, the extension of the precautionary principle and the substitution principle in REACH, the regulation aimed at better protecting human health and the environment against the risks associated with chemical substances. The union is also calling for a revision of the directive on carcinogens and mutagens at work (which has just been revised a third time - see EUROPE 12182) to extend it to reprotoxic substances. On the same day, on the occasion of World Cancer Day, EU-OSHA announced the launch in 2020 of a major European survey on exposure to carcinogenic factors at work. (PH)