HesaMag #21 The real work of art - European Trade Union Institute

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HesaMag #21 The real work of art - European Trade Union Institute
The European Trade Union Institute’s (ETUI)
                 health and safety at work magazine
                 spring-summer 2020

                 HesaMag
                 #21
                 The real work
                 of art
ISSN 2078-6816
HesaMag #21 The real work of art - European Trade Union Institute
ETUI news

                  European
                  Trade Union Institute
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Social policy in the European Union 1999-2019:                             ETUI, 2020                    HesaMag is a twice-yearly
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        the long and winding road                                                  230 pages                     journal published by the
                  Bd du Roi Albert II, 5
                  1210 Brussels
                  Belgium

                  +32 (0)2 224 04 70

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 European Trade Union Institute
                  etui@etui.org
                  www.etui.org

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Edited by Bart Vanhercke, Dalila Ghailani and Slavina Spasova              Also available in French
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 (ETUI).
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   www.etui.org > Publications
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        with Philippe Pochet
                                                                                               Edited by Bart Vanhercke, Dalila Ghailani and Slavina Spasova, with Philippe Pochet

                                                                                                                                                                                         Social policy in the
                                                                                                                                                                                         European Union 1999-2019:                                                                                                                 > Books
                                            Social policy in the European Union (1999-2019):

 Spasova,

 onecessim etur?
                                                                                                                                                                                         the long and winding road                                                                                                                                               The Working conditions,
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                                                                                                                                                                                         —
ta velendi te plit accum dis qui dolessi
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Health and Safety Unit of the
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        This anniversary edition looks back at the main developments in
 quia con nam ute asperum et voluptiis
                                                                                                                                                                                         Edited by
                                            the long and winding road

 n post rem nus porem aute mosam est
                                                                                                                                                                                         Bart Vanhercke, Dalila Ghailani and Slavina Spasova,
perum entotatatem est hitio optatquia
 vidis rerumque volorep udipist pratetur?
                                                                                                                                                                                         with Philippe Pochet
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ETUI aims at promoting high
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        EU social policymaking over the past two decades. Key questions
fugiatiusdam dionseq uatibus, nis deriat
 doluptate sitas delest provit volora que
ectaque cori dolorio nseque cor suntibu
 cae conse voluptur alit hillorum, quo in
o bea volum in pligendant quam assequi
 oremolum remqui tectatur? Is voluptat.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 standards of health and safety
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 at the workplace throughout
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        addressed in this volume include: What was the place of the
  autem. Nem fuga. Repeligenda velent
odit quodigendam iunt dit lani occus ni
e sitibusdae prae cus, quid que consed
atquodit poritatur solorrum duntemped

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Europe. It provides support
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        social dimension during the financial and economic crisis? Who
stotaqui duciat occum core dolestia por
 iur, ut estia dolor mil in earum ium aut
 olene eaquo inciaerum qui omnihitatur,
ui simus dunt dolum eos velibus et es
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 and expertise to the European
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        has driven, and who has braked, EU social policymaking? Which
ur sam, iliquide consed elestiur re aut

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Trade Union Confederation
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 (ETUC) and the Workers’ Group
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        instruments does the EU have at its disposal for 'market correcting'
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         ............

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 of the Advisory Committee on
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        policies? And last but not least, what are the next steps in the further                                 Safety and Health at Work.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        implementation of the EU’s social dimension, especially in the                                           It is an associate member
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 of the European Committee
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        context of the European Pillar of Social Rights?                                                         for Standardization (CEN). It
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 runs networks of trade union
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 experts on different issues like
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 standardization (machine safety
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 and ergonomics) and chemicals.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Working under pressure                                                     ETUI, 2020
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Edited by Maarten Keune, Nuria Elena Ramos Martín                          360 pages                     ETUI publications are
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 published to elicit comment
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        and Mikkel Mailand                                                         www.etui.org > Publications
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 and to encourage debate. The
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   > Books
                                                                                                                                                                                          Working under pressure
                                                                                                                                                                                          Employment, job quality and labour
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 views expressed are those of
                                                                                                                                                                                          relations in Europe’s public sector
                                                                                                                                                                                          since the crisis                                              This book analyses the evolution of employment, job quality and                                          the author(s) alone and do
                                                                                                                                                                                          —                                                                                                                                                                      not necessarily represent the
                                                                                                                                                                                          Edited by
                                                                                                                                                                                          Maarten Keune, Nuria Elena Ramos Martín and
                                                                                                                                                                                          Mikkel Mailand
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        labour relations in the public sector since the 2008 crisis in nine EU                                   views of the ETUI nor those
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Member States: Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy,                                         of the members of its general
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Slovakia, Spain, Czech Republic, and the UK. It focuses on three                                         assembly.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        sub-sectors: primary education, health care and municipalities.                                          Responsible publisher:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Laurent Vogel, ETUI
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Editor:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Mehmet Koksal
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 mkoksal@etui.org
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Deputy editor:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Bethany Staunton
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 bstaunton@etui.org
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Editorial assistant:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Géraldine Hofmann,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               HesaMag Plus,                                     ghofmann@etui.org
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    In memoriam                                                                                  Writers and contributors
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Claudio Stanzani (1948-2019)                        the online bonus feature                          to this issue:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Christelle Casse, Berta Chulvi,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               The magazine HesaMag is available                 Angelo Ferracuti, Mehmet
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Claudio Stanzani died on 27 December                                                                                                            Koksal, Fanny Kroener,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 2019 at the age of 71 after a long battle                                                     for free in PDF on our website                    Tony Musu, Steven Ronsmans,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 with cancer. He began his activism                                                            www.etui.org. But with HesaMag                    Fabienne Scandella, Jade
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Plus we are going one step further,               Serrano, Bethany Staunton,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 at a very young age with the Italian                                                                                                            Laurent Vogel
                                                                                                                                                                                            Confederation of Trade Unions (CISL). In the years that                                                            offering you exclusive content                    The special report was
                                                                                                                                                                                            followed the "Hot Autumn" of 1969, there was great                                                                 (articles in multiple languages,                  coordinated by Mehmet Koksal
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 and Laurent Vogel
                                                                                                                                                                                            mobilisation around the issue of occupational health and                                                           photos, videos and bibliographies)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Cover photo:
                                                                                                                                                                                            these struggles contributed to the renewal of the trade union                                                      that we couldn’t squeeze into the                 © Martine Zunini
                                                                                                                                                                                            movement. In 1974, Claudio joined the Centro Ricerche e                                                            paper version. HesaMag is best when               http://zunini.com
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Translation:
                                                                                                                                                                                            Documentazione Rischi e Danni da Lavoro (Crd), the research                                                        shared, so don’t hesitate to spread               The Peer Group
                                                                                                                                                                                            centre on occupational risks directed by Gastone Marri (CGIL)                                                      the word.                                         Circulation, subscription:
                                                                                                                                                                                            which played an exceptional role in these struggles. Claudio’s                                                                                                       Géraldine Hofmann
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 (ghofmann@etui.org)
                                                                                                                                                                                            commitment to a European trade unionism led to him living                                                                                                            Graphic design:
                                                                                                                                                                                            in Brussels for almost a decade. From 2004 to 2012, he was                                                                                                           Coast, Brussels
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Printed in Belgium
                                                                                                                                                                                            director of the Social Development Agency (SDA), supported
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 by Imprimeries Hayez
                                                                                                                                                                                            by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

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HesaMag #21 The real work of art - European Trade Union Institute
1     spring-summer 2020/HesaMag #21                 Contents 1/1

Contents
Newsflash p. 2
Editorial
Banning glyphosate: a matter of democracy p. 5

European news
When work affects health from one generation to the next p. 6

Special report
The real work of art p. 12
Shall we dance? Job insecurity at the Spanish National Ballet p. 14
Life on the streets: meeting Paris’s graffiti artists p. 19
The voice, an instrument that protects the body and soothes the spirit p. 24
The invisible museum workers p. 28
The delicate Italian hands behind the restoration of works of art p. 35
The art of managing the intermittent artist status in France p. 39
Herding cats or fighting like lions? Artists and trade union organising p. 43

From the unions
How France Télécom broke the law p. 47

International news
A global outbreak of silicosis in an unexpected industry p. 51

Books
Lead white: just another licence to kill p. 56
Lesbos: outpost of Fortress Europe p. 57

COVID-19: follow us on etui.org for a fresh take
The preparation of this issue had just been completed when the coronavirus
crisis hit. However, you will find in-depth monitoring of and reflections on this
crisis on the website of the European Trade Union Institute (www.etui.org),
including the Covid Social Impact platform, a European timeline of events,
podcasts and blogs, as well as literature resources that are updated daily.
HesaMag #21 The real work of art - European Trade Union Institute
2   spring-summer 2020/HesaMag #21             Newsflash 1/3

Newsflash
England: rise in poor-quality work             Putting an end to occupational                A new website on breast cancer and
a key factor in the deterioration of           cancer                                        occupational exposure to chemical
public health                                                                                products
                                               The European Federation of Public Service
"England is faltering," declares the opening   Unions (EPSU) and the European Biosafety      The California Department of Public Health
lines of the Marmot Review of Health           Network (EBN) have launched a new             has just launched a web tool (http://cbcrp.
Equity in England, published in February       campaign called 'Stop Cancer at Work'. The    org/worker-exposure) allowing the state’s
2020 and coordinated by esteemed               aim is to put an end to work-related cancer   6.6 million working women to identify
epidemiologist Sir Michael Marmot,             in the healthcare sector by preventing        occupational exposures contributing to
Director of the Institute of Health Equity.    occupational exposure to carcinogenic,        breast cancer risks.
The life expectancy rate, which, alongside     mutagenic and reprotoxic agents.                     A total of 161 occupations have been
continuous improvements in health, had                 Some 13 million healthcare workers    analysed. For each of them, the tool lists
been rising steadily since the beginning of    in Europe are potentially exposed to          the total number of women employed,
the twentieth century, has been slowing        dangerous drugs which can have serious        the categories of chemical products
down since 2011 to an extent not witnessed     consequences unless a strict prevention       enhancing the risk of developing breast
for 120 years: a phenomenon not seen           policy is implemented.                        cancer, and a detailed list of the various
anywhere else in Europe. In the most                   "Now, when health professionals are   products in each category. For example,
deprived communities outside London            risking their lives to combat coronavirus,    the occupation "sales assistant" shows a
it actually fell for part of the decade        it is time for us to start caring properly    list of chemical products likely to enhance
2010-2020.                                     for those who look after us," declared        the risk of developing breast cancer, such
      This is just one of the damning          the Secretary of the European Biosafety       as bisphenol A, which is used in printing
conclusions of the independent review,         Network, Ian Lindsley.                        till receipts, or the aromas used in many
which reveals widening health inequalities             The aim for 2020 is to ensure the     products. Entries such as "anti-cancer
in the country and a general deterioration     inclusion of the most dangerous drugs         drugs", "hair dyes" or "cleaning products"
in both physical and mental health.            in the fourth revision of the Carcinogens     produce a list of products as well as a list
Since Marmot’s original 2010 report on         and Mutagens Directive. The European          of exposed occupations. The criteria for
health inequalities, commissioned by           Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the         listing products involve three possible
the then Secretary of State for Health, a      European Federation of Public Service         health impacts: known and suspected
decade of austerity policies has passed,       Unions (EPSU) and the European Biosafety      carcinogens affecting the mammary
implemented by successive Conservative-        Network (EBN) have all come together          glands, toxic substances for these glands,
led governments. While the link between        in this campaign. Other partners, such        or endocrine disruptors.
austerity and health inequalities cannot       as the European Federation of Nurses’                The tool also provides an overview
be proved, such policies undeniably            Associations (EFN) and the Standing           of health inequalities linked to the ethnic
impact on what Marmot calls the "social        Committee of European Doctors (CPME),         division of labour. It assesses the shares
determinants of health".                       have all expressed their interest. The        of different ethnic groups (according to
      One of the most significant factors      European Trade Union Institute (ETUI)         the usual categories used in US statistics)
contributing to deteriorating health           will also contribute its expertise and help   in the exposed occupational groups. For
outlined by the review is the rise in          to publicise the campaign.                    instance, one finding is that 80% of female
poor-quality work. While employment                    An online petition calling for        domestic staff are Hispanics, while this
rates have increased since 2010, an            immediate action will be submitted            figure drops to 15% when looking at the
increasing proportion of the population        to Nicolas Schmit, the European               management category. The tool also enables
are working part-time, in insecure jobs        Commissioner responsible for Employment       research into the age groups involved.
and/or on zero-hour contracts. There has       and Social Affairs, as well as the European          The goal of the tool is to provide
been a correspondent increase in work-         Parliament and the Council of Ministers of    accurate information on occupational
related stress, depression and anxiety.        the European Union.                           exposure and to encourage measures for
Furthermore, rates of in-work poverty                  The campaign’s media activity is      better prevention. It addresses both the
have increased. The UK experienced             directed towards promoting the revision       research world (with a view to promoting
negative growth in average annual real         of European legislation. More information     research into the occupational risks leading
wage changes between 2007 and 2018 –           can be found at: www.stopcanceratwork.eu.     to breast cancer) and women workers (with
alone amongst other European OECD                                                            a view to facilitating collective action to
members, with the exception of Italy,                                                        eliminate such risks). The tool provides
Portugal and Greece. Marmot warns                                                            access to the compliance database run by
that "It is not enough for the government                                                    the federal Occupational Safety and Health
simply to declare that austerity is over."                                                   Administration (OSHA), which has data on
Spending must be increased on education                                                      each inspected company, showing which
and youth services, the national living                                                      exposures to chemical risks have been
wage increased, and investments made                                                         identified there. This database covers the
into creating healthy and sustainable                                                        period 1984-2019.
communities.
3    spring-summer 2020/HesaMag #21              Newsflash 2/3

France: Uber drivers are employees,              In favour of new rules for protecting            New online database for identifying
says the French Court of Cassation               against endocrine disruptors                     endocrine disruptors

On 4 March 2020, the French Court of             In a contribution to a public consultation       A team at the Institute of Mathematical
Cassation ruled in favour of reclassifying       organised by the European Commission,            Sciences in Chennai, India, has placed
the contractual relationship between Uber        the European Trade Union Confederation           online a database which identifies
and one of its drivers. This is the second       (ETUC) stated that current legislation           686 endocrine disruptors. The database
court ruling in France in favour of platform     on endocrine disruptors was insufficient         is called DEDuCT: Database on
workers, coming in the wake of the one           and inconsistent.                                Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals
concerning Take Eat Easy, a former food                Endocrine disruptors interfere with        and their Toxicity Profiles.
delivery company.                                a person’s hormone system, preventing it                DEDuCT is based on an analysis of
      The dispute was all about the              from functioning properly. As a result, they     existing scientific literature. More than
ambiguous employment status of                   are linked to numerous harmful effects in        16 000 articles have been reviewed. From
platform workers. Although deemed to             exposed persons and their offspring: a drop      a selection of 1 626 chemical agents,
be self-employed, platform workers are           in fertility, obesity, diabetes, etc. They are   686 endocrine disruptors were identified,
often subject to the same relationship           also thought to be a cause of the increase in    based on 1 796 publications. This new
of subordination as that binding any             hormone-sensitive cancers such as breast,        database complements the five databases
employee to his/her employer. In the case        prostate or thyroid cancer.                      already in existence across the world.
at hand, the Court of Cassation ruled that             The ETUC has highlighted two                      In the European Union, no official
the platform had the power to organise           priorities in dealing with this problem.         database on endocrine disruptors currently
a driver’s work, to control its execution        Firstly, there is currently no European          exists. A list of priority substances
and to punish drivers for not complying          legislation on specific prevention rules         for evaluation was created by the DG
with its rules. On the basis of the case law     regarding workplace exposure to endocrine        Environment in 2000. Under the REACH
established in the "Société Générale" ruling     disruptors. This gap is worrying, given          regulation, only 16 substances have so
of 13 November 1996, these three criteria        that a wealth of data shows that in certain      far been added to the list of substances of
constitute proof of legal subordination          sectors workplace exposure is frequent,          very high concern (the candidate list of
under French law. For its part, Uber put         with severe health consequences. This            substances for authorisation) due to their
forward arguments upholding drivers’             is especially the case in such sectors           effects of endocrine disruption either on
flexibility and their freedom to work when       as hairdressing, healthcare, cleaning,           the environment or on human health.
they want – two notions not taken into           agriculture or the plastics industry. The               In September 2017, the European
account when defining subordination.             inclusion of reprotoxic substances in the        Commission adopted criteria for identifying
Ruling that the driver’s status as a self-       EU directive on the protection of workers        endocrine disruptors as part of the
employed worker was fictitious, the Court        from the risks related to exposure to            regulation on biocides, and in November
forced the company to reclassify the             carcinogens or mutagens at work would            2018 it published a communication on its
relationship as an employment contract.          be a major step in the right direction.          strategy for protecting citizens and the
      This reclassification can be expected      Numerous endocrine disruptors used               environment against the harmful effects of
to benefit all Uber drivers, giving them         in workplaces (such as bisphenol A and           these substances.
access to better social security coverage.       various phthalates) have already been                   However, according to Laurent Vogel,
Moreover, anyone who so wishes can               identified as being reprotoxic.                  researcher at the European Trade Union
claim compensation, wages and interest in              Secondly, the European legislation         Institute (ETUI), "The much too restrictive
the case of non-observance of maximum            dealing with endocrine disruptors in             definition of criteria for endocrine
working hours, concealed (i.e. undeclared)       other fields is inconsistent. This is the        disruption adopted by the European
employment, or dismissal without due             case for the regulation on pesticides and        Commission in December 2017 is now an
cause. According to Uber, 150 French             biocides and the more general regulation         obstacle to an ambitious policy on public
drivers have applied or intend to apply          on the marketing of chemical substances          health and environmental protection. It
for reclassification, i.e. just 0.2% of the      ("REACH"). The ETUC is in favour of              is not very likely that the strategy adopted
platform’s current and past workforce.           a classification of endocrine disruptors         in 2018 will lead to significant progress.
      This French ruling can be seen             using the same principles as those               The issue of occupational exposure is
as part of a wider move contesting the           applied to carcinogens. mutagens and             dramatically underestimated and there
status of platform workers in many EU            reprotoxic substances.                           is currently no Community legislation
Member States. According to ETUI senior                For Tony Musu, senior researcher           that specifically addresses the question of
researcher Christophe Degryse, "The              at the ETUI, "There is no safe level of          occupational risk prevention in relation to
increase in court cases in different Member      exposure below which endocrine disruptors        endocrine disruptors."
States reflects the difficulty of interpreting   have no harmful effects on health. This
existing social law in the face of new           is why their substitution is a top priority.
business models based on new technologies        The choice of substitutes must be done in
with their great potential to deregulate the     a way that eliminates the risk and doesn’t
labour market. A coordinated approach            just replace one dangerous substance with
taking account of the many different forms       another just as dangerous."
of the platform economy would be a lot
more appropriate and effective".
4    spring-summer 2020/HesaMag #21              Newsflash 3/3

France: a report on the occupational             Cleaning industry in France: mainly              Is glyphosate about to be banned
health of firefighters                           the domain of women and migrants                 in Mexico?
                                                 without any other options
A new report published by ANSES, the                                                              On 25 November 2019, Mexico’s Secretariat
French Agency for Food, Environmental            The cleaning sector employs a significant        for the Environment and Natural
and Occupational Health & Safety, reveals        share of the mainland French population:         Resources (equivalent to the Environment
that firefighters are exposed to a host of       almost two million people, or 8% of the          Ministry) banned the import of 1000 tons
risk factors every day: exposure to chemical     labour force. According to studies, the          of glyphosate from the US to Mexico.
substances generally given off by products       sector is set to become the main provider of           Victor Toledo, the head of this
when on fire, as well as to biological           new jobs between now and 2022. A French          department, stated that this was an
or even physical agents. They are also           study compiled by DARES, the Ministry            emergency measure and that the next step
confronted with organisational constraints       of Labour’s research organisation, into          would be to ban glyphosate and more than
such as shift work, and with psychosocial        employment and working conditions in the         a hundred other particularly dangerous
constraints such as exposure to violence.        sector highlights three main characteristics     pesticides. The decision was taken under
The fire at the Lubrizol chemical plant in       (based on the results of a 2016 survey):         the precautionary principle, and was
Rouen on 23 September 2019, in which             — 80% of the sector’s employees are women,      immediately condemned by multinational
some 900 firefighters tackled the blaze             though men dominate in sanitation and         company Bayer.
with insufficient protective equipment,             waste handling (90% men);                           The debate over glyphosate escalated
revealed to what extent the risks related to     — The proportion of non-French workers is       following the publication in September
a firefighter’s work are often neglected.           twice as high as the average for the whole    2019 of a study by a research team from the
       In order to compile this report,             labour force (20% against 9%);                University of Guadalajara. The researchers
ANSES organised an international                 — Working in the cleaning sector is rarely      detected a rise in the occurrence of
consultation allowing the know-how                  a choice. Among employees working             chronic degenerative diseases among the
of OSH agencies in different countries              less than a year in the sector, 60% were      population of Autlán de Navarro, a farming
to be shared. Nine agencies from the                previously unemployed and for the most        region in the State of Jalisco.
United States, the Netherlands, Finland,            part receiving unemployment benefits.               To identify the possible causes, urine
Norway, Canada and the United Kingdom               Just 10% had been in education.               from children attending kindergartens
contributed to this survey.                                                                       and primary and secondary schools was
       The report does not stop at just          Aurore Desjonquères, the author of the           subjected to chemical analysis. Of the
reviewing our knowledge of the risks. It         study, speaks of "fallback jobs", finding that   148 children examined, all had traces
goes on to put forward recommendations           only 17% of cleaning workers state that they     of various herbicides in their urine. The
aimed at improving prevention, as well as        would be happy for their children to work        most recurrent substance, and also the
identifying fields in which we urgently need     in this field. This figure is two times lower    most dangerous one, was glyphosate.
more systematic data. The report contains        than the average for the whole labour force.     The majority of the children showed
a summary of the prevention measures                   Working conditions are more difficult      pathological symptoms, such as nausea,
recommended in France and the other              than for other unskilled workers. More than      vomiting and skin irritations.
participating countries.                         half of the jobs involve part-time work, while         The government’s initiative follows
       ANSES recommends the introduction         20% of cleaning employees have to work           on from a recommendation adopted by
of a database centralising the medical           non-continuous hours spread out over the         the National Human Rights Committee
check-up data of professional, military          day. 71% of cleaning employees are exposed       (NHRC) on 28 December 2018. The
and voluntary firefighters, as well as a         to repetitive work, 61% to chemical risks and    NHRC had been referred to by 43 different
monitoring of their activities, with a view      52% to painful postures. 90% are exposed to      plaintiffs, leading it to analyse pesticide
to improving our knowledge on the health         at least one physical risk.                      regulations in Mexico, comparing them
of French firefighters and the traceability of         This explains why more than three          with the provisions in force in other
exposures and to identifying the activities      quarters of cleaning employees have              countries and with international law.
with the greatest risks. It is important         experienced pain over the past twelve            Coming to the conclusion that policy
for such a database to be able to include        months, compared to just under two thirds        in this field was in breach of human
all different activities of professional         for the whole labour force. Back pain is         rights, the NHRC came up with a set of
firefighters, even when they are working in      the most common form of pain. Another            recommendations for the various public
a voluntary capacity.                            detracting factor is the lack of recognition.    authorities concerned.
       Finally, ANSES recommends the             On the other hand, autonomy is higher than             Mexico could thus become the first
effective introduction of medical check-         among other unskilled workers.                   Latin American country to ban glyphosate.
ups for firefighters who have left the fire                                                       The subcontinent has become a key market
service, with a view to better preventing                                                         due to the increasing use of genetically
longer-term risks.                                                                                modified organisms in agriculture: soya,
                                                                                                  for example, is particularly dependent on
                                                                                                  the use of toxic pesticides. A ban in Mexico
                                                                                                  would signal that the campaign is gaining
                                                                                                  momentum and could lead to a shift in
                                                                                                  Latin American policy.
5    spring-summer 2020/HesaMag #21               Editorial 1/1

Editorial
Banning glyphosate:
a matter of democracy
Laurent Vogel
ETUI

Like asbestos in the latter half of the 20th      by this four-headed oligopoly, which means          on Cancer (IARC), an intergovernmental
century, the herbicide glyphosate lies at the     that it enjoys a great capacity to influence,       agency created by the World Health Organi-
heart of debates which can be deciphered          manipulate and, if required, corrupt. In the        zation (WHO) which plays no part in regula-
only by taking into account its multiple di-      past, each of its components traditionally          tion, was able to establish that glyphosate was
mensions. From farmers and trade unionists        interacted in harmony with the dominant             a probable human carcinogen. Irrespective of
to environmental and health NGOs, many            political power, including during the most          this, the regulatory agencies on both sides of
campaign groups are calling for its prohi-        tragic moments in history. German compa-            the Atlantic still had no qualms about declar-
bition. Vietnam and Thailand have already         nies Bayer and BASF had both been part of           ing that glyphosate does not cause cancer.
decided to impose a complete ban on its use,      IG-Farben under the Nazi regime, whereas            And in December 2017, in spite of major con-
and Luxembourg will be the first country in       Monsanto and Dow were revealed to be man-           troversy, the European Commission renewed
the European Union to do so, commencing           ufacturers of Agent Orange during the Viet-         the marketing authorisation for glyphosate
on 31 December 2020. A partial ban has been       nam War, and ChemChina symbolises the               for a further five years.
adopted in a number of other countries.           conversion of the Chinese Communist Party                  The latest events are the stuff of crime
       The pro-glyphosate camp, however, is       elite to capitalism.                                novels. In 2017, the publication of the 'Mon-
strong. Where does its strength stem from?               Forced to contend with this toxic four-      santo Papers' by French daily newspaper Le
First and foremost, from the huge profits         some, campaign groups have mobilised                Monde showed how the multinational was
reaped by Monsanto, its main producer his-        over the past 15 years to demand a ban on           indulging in 'ghostwriting'. It arranged for its
torically. Global production of glyphosate in-    glyphosate. To begin with, these were vic-          employees to write papers with the intention
creased one hundred-fold between 1974 and         tims’ associations, farm workers’ unions or         of casting doubt on the dangers of glyphosate.
2014. It is the active ingredient in the most     environmental movements. Their action pro-          It then had those articles signed by suppos-
commonly used herbicides in the world.            moted independent scientific research. An im-       edly independent scientists. In March 2019,
       Glyphosate is a non-selective (or 'broad   pressive collection of studies on the damage        the General Court of the European Union
spectrum') herbicide. It is used, for example,    caused to human health and the environment          annulled the decisions by the European Food
on cereal and soybean crops, in fruit planta-     was gradually compiled. While the lawmakers         Safety Authority (EFSA) to refuse access to
tions, and in cotton or sugar cane production.    generally remained passive, the judicature          the toxicity and carcinogenicity studies on
Moreover, it is used at different stages, from    made a point of becoming involved. Pressure         glyphosate. Scrutiny of those studies led to
soil preparation prior to sowing right up to      from the courts was felt most keenly in the         an unexpected turn of events when, in Feb-
the stage immediately before harvesting for       United States where, as the number of pro-          ruary 2020, toxicologist Christopher Portier
the purpose of speeding up plant maturation.      ceedings brought continued to rise, Bayer’s         undertook a reanalysis of the test results
       However, glyphosate’s commercial suc-      case crumbled. In March 2019, the group was         underlying the glyphosate authorisation in
cess does not present the full picture. Back in   worth no more than 52 billion euros, less than      Europe and identified 37 significant tumour
the 1990s, Monsanto was developing geneti-        half of its market valuation when it took over      findings in the animals tested. To his mind,
cally modified plants resistant to glyphosate.    Monsanto. In June 2019, Bayer announced its         the regulatory agencies should have acknowl-
It filed patents on soybean and oilseed rape      intention to invest five billion euros into find-   edged that "glyphosate can cause cancers in
seeds as well as on the seeds of other market-    ing alternatives to glyphosate.                     experimental animals". The icing on the cake
ed plants. In this process, it was adopting a            This growing dispute exposes the struc-      was when one of the German laboratories
dual strategy involving, on the one hand, the     tural bias in pesticide regulation. In the Euro-    used by Monsanto for three of those tests be-
activities of seed companies, and on the oth-     pean Union and other parts of the world alike,      came embroiled in a scandal in the aftermath
er, that of pesticide manufacturers. In this      regulatory agencies assess the risks and make       of a feature broadcast on 15 October 2019 by
way, a dependent relationship was developed       the policy decisions on whether to authorise        German television channel ARD. One for-
among farmers, with their purchase of GMO         or prohibit pesticides. The feature common to       mer employee bore witness that she had been
(genetically modified organism) seeds entail-     all these agencies is that they ask manufactur-     asked to enhance the results if they did not
ing an ever-increasing recourse to pesticides.    ers to provide the relevant information in the      meet expectations.
       Today, four groups dominate this dual      matter concerned. The important features of                Beyond the scandals, the glyphosate
market, three of which have recently under-       the toxicology-related resources available are      issue shows how it is impossible to conduct
gone mergers: Bayer bought Monsanto in            provided for use by risk producers. This con-       a public health policy without democracy;
September 2016; the merger between Dow            flict of interest is concealed by burdensome        nor does democracy come into play only in
Chemical and DuPont in 2019 created Corte-        procedural rules, thus resulting in a signifi-      periodic elections. It is through social mobi-
va, a group specialising in seeds and pesti-      cant lack of transparency in the process.           lisation and those who are powerless or sub-
cides; and ChemChina absorbed Syngenta                   As regards glyphosate, the systemic          jugated taking control of their lives that true
in 2017. The German multinational BASF            distortion of the regulatory process has taken      democracy can emerge and create systems of
completes the grouping. On the world stage,       on an almost caricatural dimension. Back in         risk regulation that value human life more
the agrochemicals industry is dominated           2015, the International Agency for Research         than corporate profit.•
6     spring-summer 2020/HesaMag #21   European news 1/6

When work affects health from
one generation to the next
The use of substances that are harmful to reproductive health (“reprotoxins”)
is widespread in European workplaces. EU legislation regulates their impacts
on consumers, treating them as akin to carcinogens. But it does not take the
same approach when it comes to protecting workers.
Laurent Vogel
ETUI

A scene from Dark
Waters, Todd Haynes’
film that recounts the
long legal saga of
the DuPont trial in
the United States.
Image: © Belga
7     spring-summer 2020/HesaMag #21              European news 2/6

Coincidences sometimes suggest a deep-
er meaning: two stories from two different        The market has been flooded with new
countries come together and reveal some-
thing fundamental about our world. On             substances which have not been adequately
24 February 2020, a trial began in the Neth-
erlands, brought by 14 female workers and         risk-assessed.
supported by the Dutch Federation of Trade
Unions (Federatie Nederlandse Vakbewe-
ging, FNV), against their former employer
DuPont.1 They had worked in a Lycra factory in
Dordrecht2 and experienced years of expo- compensation for a farmer whose cattle herd                 1. Pien Heuts (2016)        2. Depending on the
sure to dimethylacetamide (DMA), a solvent had been decimated. People began sharing                   ‘We didn’t know how         country, the same fabric is
that is reprotoxic.                                their experiences, and a large-scale epidemi-      dangerous it was.’ Former   sold as Spandex, Elastane
                                                   ological study was organised. It found a high      DuPont workers invoke       or Lycra. DuPont brought
                                                                                                      the responsibility of the   all its textile production
                                                   incidence of testicular, renal and liver cancers
                                                                                                      chemicals giant, HesaMag    together in the Invista
A small loss for shareholders                      among those who had suffered exposure, and         #14, p. 44.                 company, which was sold to
                                                   birth defects among their children.                                            Koch Industries in 2004.
In the same month, February 2020, Todd                   The film follows the story up to 2015. By
Haynes’ film Dark Waters opened in cinemas. then, although some lawsuits were still ongo-
It tells the story of a series of lawsuits against ing, hundreds of victims had already received
DuPont in the US. Hundreds of workers were substantial compensation. In February 2017,
exposed to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), DuPont paid 671 million dollars to a group of
a substance with non-stick properties also 3 550 victims, a sum that represented only a
known as C8, in a factory that made Teflon small loss to shareholders. In its best years,             for DuPont at the age of 17. Her father had
frying pans in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Teflon generated a billion dollars per annum               worked at the same plant since 1962. He
DuPont had known about PFOA’s high toxici- for the company.                                           started out producing synthetic Orlon fabric
ty since 1961 but production continued – even            And so, a trial begins in the Netherlands    and was then transferred to work on Teflon
though, from 1981, some workers had babies just as a film comes out depicting the difficul-           production. He died of cancer aged 46. In
with birth defects. The company simply took ties of a legal saga that has lasted 20 years on          Europe, DuPont has never been investigated
women off that production line. In 1989, Du- the other side of the Atlantic.                          over its Teflon production. Another employ-
Pont became aware that a high number of its              "My life would have been different if I      ee, Astrid Musig, is younger than Romy; she
workers were dying from leukaemia. A few hadn’t worked in the packing department in                   worked at the factory from 1989 until 2001,
months later, the incidence of renal cancer DuPont’s Lycra factory in Dodrecht," says                 where she was exposed to DMA. Her husband
was also noted. In addition to workers, peo- Romy Hardon, an employee there from 1977                 produced Teflon. Their daughter Sandrina
ple living near the plant were also affected to 1988. She suffered a stillbirth and still             was born severely disabled. She is barely able
by high concentrations of PFOA in the water visits her child’s grave every month. She had             to walk because of muscle weakness and has
supply. Lawyer Robert Bilott launched a first severe fertility problems that eventually re-           difficulty speaking. Her mental development
lawsuit against the company in 1998, seeking quired a hysterectomy. Romy began working                is that of a four-year-old child.
8    spring-summer 2020/HesaMag #21                European news 3/6

Exposure limits to avoid substitution              acknowledged that the cause was also social               These substances can have an impact
                                                   and political. Workers’ health had been sacri-      on the whole human reproductive cycle. They
Romy and Astrid are far from being the only        ficed for company profit. Both Teflon and Ly-       may affect fertility and pregnancy (causing,
women affected, and men have experienced           cra are used to make mass market products.          for example, stillbirth, miscarriage or prema-
reproductive health problems too. The union        The chemical industry seems all-powerful,           ture birth). Parental exposure can also affect
spent four years trying to convince DuPont         improving life with innovative products. Ly-        the embryo and endanger a child’s health be-
to compensate victims before launching le-         cra is held up as a symbol of modernity and         fore birth, raising the risks of conditions such
gal proceedings. DuPont could not have been        innovation. It is promoted not as a fabric but      as cancer, immune system problems, neuro-
unaware of the scientific literature showing       the magic ingredient that ensures "a great fit,     logical and intellectual development, behav-
DMA’s reprotoxicity. The company main-             comfort and freedom of movement".                   ioural problems and obesity.
tained that it had adhered to occupational                                                                   The hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES),
exposure limits (OELs) and therefore bore no                                                           once commonly prescribed during pregnan-
responsibility. A similar argument had been        Three generations put at risk through               cy, had more severe effects on daughters who
used in the case of PFOA-contaminated water        a single exposure                                   had been exposed to it than on their mothers.
in West Virginia, where a maximum concen-                                                              Michael Skinner, an epigenetic researcher,
tration value had been set so high that neither    Demeter, a database from the French Na-             explains: "When a pregnant woman ingests
humans nor livestock were protected.               tional Research and Safety Institute for the        DES, her baby assimilates it too. And the sex-
      Several aspects link these cases beyond      Prevention of Occupational Accidents and            ual cells for the next generation are already
the fact that both involve DuPont.                 Diseases (INRS), provides information on            present in the baby. That’s how three gener-
      Why invest in prevention when the            almost 200 substances used in workplaces            ations come to be exposed to the hormone
risk’s workplace origin remains invisible to       which are reprotoxic, and this list is far from     simultaneously and instantly." Skinner says
the people affected? The industry knew the         exhaustive.                                         that the structure of DES resembles that of
toxicity of these substances but claimed it               According to the European Union’s            bisphenol A, and it functions in the same way
abided by the OELs. The public authorities re-     harmonised classification, there are 27 sub-        as DDT. In other words, this medicine works
mained passive. They ascribed the OELs with        stances classed as reprotoxic in category 1A        in a similar way to endocrine disruptors that
a magical power to protect health, without         (proven to be toxic to humans), 234 in cat-         have been very widely used in industry and
considering the industry’s key role in setting     egory 1B (presumed to be toxic) and 150 in          agriculture.
them. The victims were working class or, in        category 2 (suspected to be toxic). This clas-            There is a discrepancy between the
the case of local residents, belonged to low-in-   sification includes just a small fraction of the    attention given to these issues in the public
come groups. It took years for individual cases    substances on the market; there are an addi-        health arena and their neglect in workplace
that had been experienced as personal trag-        tional 4 700 substances notified as reprotoxic      health. Yet workplace exposure is an impor-
edies to be linked to each other. A chemical       by manufacturers or importers in one of these       tant factor in harm to reproductive health.
cause was then identified in the workplace.        three categories.                                   There is no precise estimate of the number
But when it was discovered that toxicologi-               Classification lags far behind the reality   of workers exposed in the EU: two million
cal studies had existed for years and showed       in the market. In recent decades, many sub-         seems the lowest probable estimate. The
that the substance was reprotoxic, it had to be    stances have been brought onto the market           probability of reprotoxin exposure is highest
                                                   without sufficiently sensitive testing to deter-    among the most disadvantaged, which repro-
                                                   mine their reprotoxicity. The market has been       duces health inequalities from one generation
                                                   flooded with new substances which have not          to the next.
                                                   been adequately risk-assessed. Nanoparticles
                                                   can, for example, cross the placental barrier
                                                   that protects the embryo. Chinese research-         Toxic ignorance
                                                   ers observed this in mice exposed to nanopar-
There is a                                         ticles of titanium dioxyde, a substance wide-       The lack of prevention is often put down to an
                                                   ly used for many different applications (in         absence of data, but this explanation is inad-
discrepancy between                                paint, sun cream, foodstuffs, medicines and         equate. Even in the case of substances whose
                                                   toothpaste). A similar effect was observed in       reprotoxicity has long been recognised, pre-
the attention given                                quantum dots, tiny semiconductor particles          vention has been far from sufficient. The ab-
                                                   used in solar panels and medical imaging.           sence of data is in itself the result of a lack of
to these issues in the                                    Endocrine disruptors also harm repro-        prevention. The lack of a sufficiently strin-
                                                   ductive health, but only a minority of them         gent legal framework for prevention means
public health arena                                have been classed as reprotoxic. Procedures         data has not been collected. Ignorance is not
                                                   are slow and hampered by the chemical in-           inevitable.
and their neglect in                               dustry’s influence on regulatory bodies.                  Toxicology studies substances through
                                                   Identifying endocrine disruptors is difficult       laboratory tests, often conducted on animals,
workplace health.                                  because the European classification system          but many effects go unnoticed if testing is not
                                                   does not recognise this category.                   extended over two generations. EU regulation
9     spring-summer 2020/HesaMag #21                 European news 4/6

                                                                                                                              3. Six EU countries have
is compulsory only for the highest production
volumes (10 000 tonnes per producer per              This position of the European                                            already added reprotoxins
                                                                                                                              to their domestic legislation
year), so the vast majority of substances on
                                                     Commission is all the more
                                                                                                                              on workplace carcinogens:
the market are exempt from such tests.                                                                                        Austria, Belgium, Czech
       Epidemiology takes recorded ill health
                                                     puzzling because there has
                                                                                                                              Republic, Finland, France
as its starting point and looks for its causes. It                                                                            and Germany. In the case
establishes whether a condition is more com-                                                                                  of Germany, there are some
mon in a group exposed to a risk factor than         not been any lobbying from                                               specific exemptions in the
                                                                                                                              prevention requirements for
in a control group. Epidemiological research
into the effect of workplace factors on repro-       industry against the inclusion of                                        reprotoxins.

ductive health needs to be developed. The
PELAGIE study conducted in France shows              reprotoxins in the Carcinogens
the potential of such research. This is a lon-
gitudinal study that has monitored the state         and Mutagens Directive.
of health of a specific population at different
points over a long period. It was set up in
Brittany in 2002 and included 3 421 pregnant
women. Its objective is to evaluate the long-
term consequences for pregnancy and child
development of prenatal and childhood expo-
sure to various environmental and workplace
contaminants. Children were assessed at the          between maternal exposure to diesel engine markedly less stringent than those on car-
ages of two and six and are now being fol-           emissions and their children’s incidence of cinogens. It contained just one mandatory
lowed up as adolescents. A subgroup of chil-         cancers of the central nervous system.           reprotoxin OEL, for lead. This OEL was set at
dren is the subject of a more detailed study of                                                       such a high level that it offered no protection
cognitive and psychological development and                                                           against reproductive health risks. Dealing
brain function. Among various results relat-         The European Commission ducks                    with reprotoxins through the provisions of
ing to the effects of maternal workplace ex-         the issue                                        the Chemical Agents Directive goes against
posure, the study has found links between or-                                                         the general approach of EU law, which rec-
ganic solvents and birth defects, and between        In EU legislation, reprotoxins are classed in ognises that these substances are a source of
organophosphate pesticides and childhood             the same category as carcinogens and muta- great concern and need to be subject to more
respiratory and allergic problems.                   gens. In issues of consumer or environmental stringent legislation.
       There is a third data source with great       protection, EU regulations rightly consider            The blanket blocking of the revision of
potential, but it comes up against the prob-         that the same rules must be applied to sub- the Directive on Carcinogens and Mutagens
lem of the partitioning of public and work-          stances that share two essential characteris- during José Manuel Barroso’s presidency of
place health. The authorities that maintain          tics: their risk to human health is particularly the Commission (2004-2014) wasted a decade.
records of birth defects do not collect in-          high and often irreversible, and their effects Several times, the European Parliament voted
formation about parents’ jobs. Cancer re-            may not present themselves for years, which for a revision of the Directive and for bringing
cords make it straightforward to identify            makes them less visible.                         reprotoxins within its scope. Union organisa-
childhood cancers, but the data is not linked               This is the approach adopted by REACH tions and some Member States3 backed this
to parental employment history. Collating            (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and proposal.
data from different sources would remedy             Restriction of Chemicals), the main regula-            However, when the European Com-
this. Pioneering studies have shown how              tory instrument for how chemical substances mission finally restarted the revision pro-
far knowledge is being held back by failure          are put on the market, and by many specific cess in 2016, it performed a surprise about-
to make use of these records. Finnish re-            regulations for such things as pesticides, cos- turn on the question of reproductive risks.
searchers published a study in 1980 based            metics, biocides and waste.                      In May 2016, Marianne Thyssen, the EU
on an analysis of their country’s register of               The only exception is workplace health. Commissioner for Employment and Social
birth defects. They focused on central nerv-         An EU Directive on carcinogens has existed Affairs at that time, stated that the impact
ous system defects and carried out detailed          since 1990. In 1999, its scope was expand- study requested by the Commission "did not
interviews with mothers to investigate their         ed to include mutagens (substances which sufficiently clarify the costs and potential
working conditions. Their study revealed the         cause mutations in the human genome). In benefits" of extending the CMD to include
risk posed by organic solvents and industri-         2002, the European Commission initiat- reprotoxins.
al dust. More than 40 years later, a Danish          ed a further revision of this Directive with           Using a cost-benefit impact study to jus-
team worked on cancer records and estab-             the aim of bringing reprotoxins within its tify a political decision of this magnitude is
lished a link between childhood cancer and           scope. There was already a general Direc- especially shocking, as the study in question
having a parent who worked in the paint in-          tive on chemical agents dating from 1998. was bound to acknowledge the great uncer-
dustry. Another Danish team showed a link            The preventative measures it specified were tainty surrounding its calculations.
10   spring-summer 2020/HesaMag #21                European news 5/6

In reality, reprotoxic risks affect both women
and men. They result not from a susceptibility
in the individual, but decisions made in the
production process.

       In 2017, as part of the first phase of      A patriarchal mindset                               personal tragedy, and often experienced with-
the revision of the CMD, the European Par-                                                             out support and even with a sense of guilt.
liament passed an amendment that adopted           Aside from the workings of bureaucratic pow-              In reality, reprotoxic risks affect both
something the Commission itself had pro-           er, which meant that DG Employment was              women and men. They result not from a sus-
posed some 10 years earlier: the expansion of      very unhappy that the European Parliament           ceptibility in the individual, but decisions
the scope of the CMD to include reprotoxins.       did not back its stance, there is a bigger ques-    made in the production process. Pregnan-
The final approved text, the result of a com-      tion about what underlies the trivialisation of     cy itself is a time of particular risk for some
promise between the European Parliament            risks to reproductive health in the workplace.      types of exposure, but that does not mean
and the Council of Ministers, was less clear-             Since the late nineteenth century, con-      that prior periods are risk-free.
cut. It required the Commission to reach a de-     cern about the effects of some industrial                 Bringing reprotoxic agents within the
cision on the possible inclusion of reprotoxins    toxins on future generations has produced           scope of the Carcinogens Directive would en-
by no later than 31 March 2019.                    laws in which the permanent or temporary            able better prevention. It would also challenge
       Between 2017 and 2019, the Com-             exclusion of women has taken precedence             the subordination of human reproduction to
mission’s position hardened, in part as a          over eliminating the cause. EU legislation is       the imperatives of production. That is the main
result of internal disagreement. The Direc-
torates-General responsible for regulating
                                                   still in part based on this logic. Reproductive
                                                   health in the workplace features only explic-
                                                                                                       lesson from the Lycra and Teflon cases.       •
chemical risks (DG GROW and DG Envi-               itly in one directive, the one which applies to
ronment) considered it logical to ensure that      pregnant women. Under this directive, pre-
workers benefit from the EU legislation, which     ventative measures are triggered only when          Further reading
applies the same regulation to carcinogens as      the woman tells her employer she is preg-
to reprotoxins. Only the Directorate-General       nant. Such a mechanism is ineffective from          A longer version of this article with all of the
for Employment opposed this.                       the point of view of prevention and creates         references, sources and hyperlinks to the
       Faced with a firm deadline from Parlia-     discrimination against women. A pregnant            most important documents can be found at
ment and the Council, the Commission side-         woman, not the workplace risk, becomes the          HesaMagPlus (www.etui.org).
stepped a decision. On the appointed date,         problem. As preventative measures current-
it simply published a second, heavily biased       ly depend on women communicating in ad-             Mengeot M.A. and Vogel L. (2008) Production
impact study online to justify its inaction (see   vance, they are rarely put in place before the      and Reproduction – Stealing the health of future
inset page 11).                                    tenth week of pregnancy. It is precisely during     generations, ETUI, Brussels.
       This position is all the more puzzling      this period of gestation that the developing
because there has not been any lobbying from       embryo is at greatest risk.                         Mengeot M.A. in collaboration with Musu T.
industry against the inclusion of reprotoxins.            A powerful stereotype endures, which         and Vogel L. (2016) Endocrine disruptors: an
Far from it in fact. The chemical industry is in   sees reprotoxic risks as a female problem: hu-      occupational risk in need of recognition, ETUI,
favour of it, as long as there are derogations     man reproduction, consigned to the private          Brussels.
for substances for which a health-based OEL        domain, should not create obstacles for indus-
has been made compulsory at European level.        trial production, the thinking goes. The triv-      Musu T. and Vogel L. (2018) Cancer risks in the
For other issues that would come under the         ialisation of reprotoxic risk diffuses it within    workplace: better regulation, stronger protection,
revision to the Directive, such as emissions       the general mass of chemical risks. No one          ETUI, Brussels.
from diesel engines and crystalline silica,        would claim the birth of a child with serious
there has been intense industry lobbying, but      birth defects is comparable to a skin irritation,   Wriedt H. (2016) Reprotoxins that should be subject
not over reprotoxins.                              but such health problems are considered a           to limit values for workers’ exposure, ETUI, Brussels.
11   spring-summer 2020/HesaMag #21                  European news 6/6

 Dubious figures                                     The study contained multiple biases that led it to   on belief and manipulation. The belief was
                                                     this conclusion.                                     that reprotoxic substances are “threshold
 prolong legislative                                                                                      substances” and thus exposure would have no
                                                     Firstly, it had to begin by evaluating the number    harmful effect on health if it remained below
 paralysis                                           of workers who would benefit from an extension       the occupational exposure limit. The example
                                                     of the Directive to include reprotoxins, for which   of lead suffices to show the inaccuracy of
                                                     there is no European data.                           this assumption: as far as its neurotoxic
 On 12 December 2017, the first phase of                                                                  effect on the embryo is concerned, there is no
 the revision of the Directive on carcinogens        The consortium used data from the Sumer survey       threshold below which the effect is zero. The
 in the workplace concluded with a compromise        conducted in France in 2010. It found that 1.5%      manipulation was that the Sumer survey did
 between the European Parliament and the             of men and 0.6% of women were exposed at             not measure exposure.
 Council of the European Union. The Commission       work to at least one of six reprotoxic agents. To
 was called upon to consider including               compensate for this survey being limited to just     The consortium put forward different
 reprotoxic substances within this Directive.        six agents (or groups of agents), the consortium     estimates for the potential financial
 The deadline was set for 31 March 2019.             doubled the percentages. Nevertheless, there         benefits of including reprotoxins in the
                                                     was still a serious underestimate of the real        Directive, which it judged marginal. The most
 The Commission’s response was cavalier. It did      numbers affected. For example, the Sumer             generous estimate reckoned that preventing
 not take an official position by approving a        survey did not consider exposure to pesticides,      developmental damage represented a
 communication or a declaration. Instead, it put     which explains why their figure for exposure         benefit of less than 100 million euros per
 a study on its website from a consortium of         to agricultural reprotoxins is 0%. There is          year, and that preventing harm to fertility
 consultants which made immediately clear that       also no mention of cytostatic substances and         and pregnancy (including miscarriages
 it did “not necessarily represent the official      other medicines whose reprotoxic effects are         and stillbirths) would amount to less than
 opinion of the Commission”.                         extensively documented. The survey indicated         300 million euros per year.
                                                     that 13% of employees are exposed to solvents.
 The study does not take into account recent         Some of these solvents are reprotoxic, such          It is worth recalling the words of Irving
 developments in scientific knowledge. It is         as N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and DMF              Selikoff, one of the pioneers in asbestos
 limited to examining six political options that     (N, N-Dimethylformamide), but although the           research: “Never forget that the numbers in
 range from “do nothing”, to a legislative plan,     consortium acknowledged the significance of          your tables are human destinies, although the
 to extending the Directive on carcinogens           endocrine disruptors, it did not factor them into    tears have been wiped away.” Will this warning
 to include all reprotoxic substances.               its calculations.                                    be heeded to bring an effective response to a
 Intermediate options were considered, such                                                               major problem of workplace health?
 as inclusion with certain derogations, and          Their second extrapolation is even more
 merging existing directives. The methodology        problematic. To extrapolate from the French          * This is the reduction factor for the highest estimate.
 was a cost-benefit analysis.                        data to the whole of the EU, the consultants         For the lowest estimate, the consultants applied a
                                                     drastically reduced the figures. They decided to     reduction factor of 200 for women and 80 for men.
 The report concluded that the most attractive       divide the number of women exposed by a factor
 option, from an economic point of view,             of 90 (compared to the Sumer survey) and men
 would be to include various reprotoxins in          by a factor of 25*. According to the consortium,
 the Directive, but with multiple automatic          the number of men exposed to a reproductive
 derogations. This option is a cosmetic solution:    health risk at work across the whole of the          Reference
 it would bring reprotoxic substances within the     European Union is between 22 000 and 61 000,
 Directive’s scope only to exclude them from         and for women the figure is between 3 000 and        RPA, FOBIG, Mayer-Brown, Verisk 3E, Study
 the most significant preventative measures.         8 000. These figures are significantly lower than    to collect recent information relevant
 A scientific committee would be required to         those recorded in France for just six agents.        to modernising EU Occupational Safety
 determine whether a reprotoxin has an effect                                                             and Health chemicals legislation with a
 without a threshold before preventative             However, no field data supported what appears        particular emphasis on reprotoxic chemicals
 requirements would be fully applied. This would     to be a manipulation of the figures. The Sumer       with the view to analyse the health, socio-
 be a lengthy process and would not be able          survey contains information on exposure              economic and environmental impacts in
 to take into account the cocktail effect that       intensity, frequency and the adoption of             connection with possible amendments
 results from multiple exposures. The solution       preventative measures. The consultants decided       of Directive 2004/37/EC and Directive
 negotiated between union organisations and          that only the most serious situations constituted    98/24/EC, 18 March 2019.
 chemical industry employers’ organisations was      a risk. They consequently concluded that the
 called “the most effective in terms of reducing     vast majority of workers who were exposed to         A fuller version of this article including all of
 reproductive risk”, but it would be the costliest   reprotoxins in Europe ran no risk for themselves     the references can be found at HesaMagPlus
 option for businesses.                              or their children. This reasoning was based          (www.etui.org).
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