Press Release: Commission consults workers and employers on reducing exposure to substances that cause cancer and reduce fertility

The European Commission is to ask representatives of workers and employers ('social partners') for their views on how to tackle gaps in existing legislation aimed at minimising exposure to substances that cause cancer and have other harmful effects. An estimated 32 million people are exposed to such substances at levels that exceed what is considered as safe, and between 35,000 and 45,000 cancer deaths per year are due to exposures occurring in the workplace. One occupational death from cancer costs an average of €2.14 million and the cost of such deaths across the European Union is over €70 billion per year.