European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) - News list / Health & Safety

28/10/2019

France: a status report on the occupational health of firefighters

ANSES, the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, has just published a report summarising current knowledge on the occupational health of firefighters.

28/10/2019

Can the cocktail effect of chemical products contribute to autism?

An in vitro research project conducted by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) reveals that certain substances, although non-toxic when tested alone, can, when mixed with other substances, have a negative impact on neuronal development. These results were presented by Ana Bal-Price in September 2019 at the 47th European Teratology Conference and published in the September 2019 issue of the Reproductive Toxicology journal.

25/10/2019

Thailand about to ban glyphosate

After Vietnam, Thailand is set to become the second large Asian agricultural country to completely ban glyphosate in an effort to protect its population. The substance is the active ingredient of Roundup, the top-selling herbicide produced by Monsanto, the US company acquired by German multinational Bayer in June 2018.

11/10/2019

The Spanish government reconsiders workers’ protection from carcinogens

Under the pretext of transposing a European directive and boosting the competitiveness of Spanish companies, Spain’s caretaker government is proposing to reduce the protection levels for carcinogens, thereby potentially impacting exposed workers’ health.

24/09/2019

66% of employees pushed to work “very fast”

The results of the SUMER 2017 survey were presented in France on 9 September 2019. SUMER is the acronym for the French “surveillance médicale des salariés aux risques professionnels”, i.e. the medical monitoring of employees’ exposure to occupational risks. Carried out for the 4th time, the survey maps the main work-related risks. The previous surveys were performed in 1994, 2003 and 2010 in such a way that a comparison of the results provides important information on the evolution of working conditions in France over a period of more than 20 years.

10/09/2019

High levels of endocrine disruptors found among children

Hundreds of substances capable of disrupting hormone production exist. Used to a massive extent by industry in many different products, these substances are linked to serious health problems such as cancers, reproductive health disorders, developmental disorders such as obesity, lower intelligence quotients, etc. The main substances used include bisphenols, phthalates, parabens, glycol ethers, brominated flame retardants and perfluorinated compounds (PFCs). For the first time, the French public health agency Santé publique France has measured the presence of these substances of very high concern (SVHCs) in the bodies of children and adults in a large sample (1,104 children and 2,503 adults) representative of the French population. The work was carried out in the context of the ESTEBAN (enquête de santé sur l’environnement, la biosurveillance, l’activité physique et la nutrition) public health survey.

5/08/2019

Link between night shift work and breast, prostate and colorectal cancer

In June 2019 a working group of 27 scientists from 16 countries met at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France to finalise their evaluation of the carcinogenicity of night shift work. This evaluation will be published in volume 124 of the IARC Monographs and an initial summary of their work was published in The Lancet in July 2019.

5/08/2019

New online database for identifying endocrine disruptors

A team at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai, India, has placed online a database which identifies 686 endocrine disruptors. The database is called DEDuCT: Database on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and their Toxicity Profiles

18/07/2019

France Télécom: institutional harassment before a court

A landmark trial ended on 11 July 2019 at the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance. It was triggered by a complaint filed with the Paris public prosecutor by the union SUD PTT in December 2009, accusing France Télécom and its senior executives of "moral harassment" and "endangering others".

15/07/2019

Colombia bans asbestos

On 11 June 2019, the Colombian House of Representatives unanimously voted to ban asbestos as of 1 January 2021. A historic victory for the unions and victim associations, the vote took place in an unfavourable political context.