On Wednesday night at 3am, after six hours of negotiations, the European Parliament and EU governments finalised a political agreement on the fourth revision of the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive (CMD). The Socialists and Democrats successfully argued for applying the same approach to reprotoxic substances as to carcinogens and mutagens. This will ensure better protection of workers at their workplaces, legal coherence and a level playing field between member states.
Reprotoxic substances can impair the ability to have children or cause irreversible harm to foetal development. According to estimates, at least 1% of the EU workforce – 2 million workers – are exposed to at least one reprotoxic substance at work.
Helene Fritzon, S&D MEP and Parliament negotiator on carcinogens and mutagens, said:
“I am proud that we managed to ensure that from now on reprotoxic substances will fall under the same workplace harm-prevention rules as carcinogens and mutagens. It is simply unacceptable to expose workers to substances that can damage their fertility or harm their children. Pregnant and breast-feeding women in particular deserve a safe workplace.
“We also achieved better protection for healthcare workers and nurses from exposure to hazardous drugs mostly used to treat cancer. Currently, 12.7 million healthcare workers are exposed to hazardous medicinal products at work in the EU. We know that healthcare workers who handle cytotoxic drugs (medicines that possess anti-tumoural properties) are three times more likely to develop cancer and twice as likely to miscarry. We owe our oncology healthcare workers better protective measures to ensure that those treating cancer do not themselves develop cancer.
“We want the Commission to use a risk-based methodology, which is health-focused, rather than a cost-benefit assessment, and expect the Administrative Committee to issue a positive opinion in the next 12 months.
“We call on the Commission to come up with an action plan to include 25 additional substances by the end of 2022 and to immediately follow-up with legislative proposals.
“No job is worth dying for. All workers are entitled to have health and safety guaranteed at their workplace. Our goal is zero work-related deaths.”
Note to the editor:
The political agreement still needs to be approved by the Council and the full plenary of the European Parliament.
12 reprotoxic substances were added to the CMD at the request of the Parliament, on top of the three carcinogenic substances proposed by the Commission.
