In a press release issued on Thursday 26 September, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) deplored the European Commission’s delay in presenting its initiative on screening buildings for asbestos.
The ETUC believes that this delay puts European workers at “risk” at a time when cases of asbestos-related cancers are on the increase. In particular, the ETUC draws on Eurostat figures published the same day, which “show that 1,409 people were diagnosed with work-related mesothelioma, an occupational cancer caused by exposure to asbestos fibres, in 2021, an increase of 10% on the previous year, when 1,274 cases were diagnosed”.
At the national level, Italy recorded the highest number of mesothelioma deaths (518) in 2021, followed by Germany (400) and France (329).
In 2022, the European Commission revised the directive on asbestos at work and proposed a directive on the detection, registration and monitoring of asbestos. The directive was due to be adopted in June 2023, but was later expected to be adopted in spring 2024.
Link to statistics: https://aeur.eu/f/dlj (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)