On Tuesday 22 September, the European Commission proposed revising Directive 2004/37/EC, which protects workers from the risks of carcinogens and mutagens, by adding acrylonitrile and nickel compounds and by revising downwards the exposure limits for benzene.
Acrylonitrile, which affects between 10,000 and 33,000 workers in the European Union, according to the Commission, is used in many sectors ranging from textiles to construction. The substance is believed to cause many cancers of the brain, stomach, tongue, intestines, and mammary glands.
More than 87,000 workers are exposed to nickel compounds, particularly in the oil refinery sector, metal surface treatment, battery manufacturing, and materials recovery. These compounds are believed to cause miscarriages, lung cancer, and increased lung morbidity.
As for benzene, a substance handled by more than a million workers in the Union and the cause of many blood cancers, a Europe-wide occupational exposure limit is already set in the directive. However, the institution explains that the most recent scientific and technical evidence indicates that this existing European limit value should be revised downwards.
This proposal is one of the first elements of the forthcoming European plan to combat cancer (see EUROPE 12475/21). This is the long-awaited fourth revision of the Directive (see EUROPE 11830/22). The European Parliament and the EU Council are called upon to endorse this proposal or, where appropriate, to amend it. Previous revisions have sometimes been particularly political; for example, the addition of diesel fumes in light of the ‘Dieselgate’ scandal (see EUROPE 12115/12). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)