Work: A window of exposure to countless risks
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A child born with birth defect, a miscarriage, difficulty conceiving, impotence are personal tragedies lived in private by couples and families. Tragedies that may be assumed to have individual or even family or genetic causes. It is not often that the working conditions of victims of reproductive health disorders are looked at.
And yet, workplaces are a window of exposure to a long catalogue of reprotoxins, including chemicals like heavy metals, pesticides, solvents, endocrine disruptors, etc., physical (excessive heat, ionizing radiation, etc.), psychological (stress) and ergonomic factors (heavy loads, night- or shift work, etc.).
Recent research shows how far occupational exposure to chemicals affects not only the different aspects of men and women workers’ reproductive life, but also their children’s health.
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Community legislation: disjointed and not working
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Community legislation concerning reproductive risks falls into two broad categories: one governing the marketing of chemicals, the other protecting workers' health.
The market rules were brought in to allow the chemical industry to move its production around inside the Community market. Health and environmental protection do not feature strongly in it. The problem is that most of the chemicals on the market have never been tested for their potential impact on reproductive health, so not many are classified as “toxic for reproduction”. This means that many users, both private and professional, can buy products with no idea as to their dangers for reproductive health.
The EU laws that protect workers make no specific provision for guarding against reproduction hazards. This is supposed to be done through a set of directives that address particular categories of worker (pregnant workers) or specific risks (ionizing radiation). In 2002, the Commission said it was considering bringing reprotoxins within the scope of the Carcinogens Directive, which lays down a specific order of precedence for workplace health and safety obligations. Trade unions are dismayed that recent developments raise the spectre of a Commission U-turn.
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The Pregnant Workers Directive: Not very protective
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The Pregnant Workers Directive was adopted in 1992. The maternity protection aspect is pretty feeble. The preventive measures that employers have to take are very vague. They offer no protection for the unborn child in the first weeks of pregnancy, and encourage employers to transfer pregnant workers away from the job instead of eliminating the risk and providing prevention at source. Also, unlike the other health and safety at work directives, the Pregnant Workers Directive does not require workers' reps to be consulted on preventive measures. Revision of the Directive is in hand. Unfortunately, the Commission is refusing to touch the measures on the organization of prevention.
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- Production and reproduction. Stealing the health of future generations
Mengeot, M-A, Vogel, L., ETUI-REHS, 2008
- The gender workplace health gap in Europe
Vogel, L., TUTB, 2003
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ILO: New Maternity Protection Convention
TUTB Newsletter, June 2000
- The transposition of Directive 92/85/EEC on the safety and the health of pregnant workers, and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding (II)
TUTB Newsletter, December 1997
- The transposition of Directive 92/85/EEC on the safety and the health of pregnant workers, and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding (I)
TUTB Newsletter, June 1997
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- Potential developmental neurotoxicity of pesticides used in Europe
Environmental Health, October 2008
- Occupational exposure to organic solvents: effects on human reproduction
The Health Council of the Netherlands, June 2008
- Declines in Sex Ratio at Birth and Fetal Deaths in Japan, and in U.S. Whites but Not African Americans
Environmental Health Perspectives, 2007
- Developmental neurotoxicity of industrial chemicals
The Lancet, 2006
- Workgroup Report: Implementing a National Occupational Reproductive Research Agenda—Decade One and Beyond
Environmental Health Perspectives, March 2006
- Occupational risk factors and reproductive health of women
Occupational Medicine, 2006
- How strong is the evidence of a link between environmental chemicals and adverse effects on human reproductive health?
British Medical Journal, February 2004
- Collaboration is needed to co-ordinate European birth cohort studies
International Journal of Epidemiology, 2004
- An Occupational Reproductive Research Agenda for the Third Millennium
Environmental Health Perspectives, April 2003
- Critical windows of exposure for children’s health: cancer in human, epidemiological studies and neoplasms in experimental animal models
Environmental Health Perspectives, 2000
- Chemical Trespass: A toxic legacy
A WWF-UK Toxics Programme Report, July 1999
- An anthropological approach to the evaluation of preschool children exposed to pesticides in Mexico
Environmental Health Perspectives, 1998
- Reproductive and developmental toxicants
Report to the chairman, Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate United States, 1991
- Paternal exposure to mercury and spontaneous abortions
British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1991
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- Eurocat. European Surveillance of Congenoital Anomalies
- European Commission's website on endocrine disrupter research in Europe
- Scorecard - lists of reprotoxics and endocrine toxicants
Environmental Defense Fund
- Website on endocrine disruptors by the authors of the book 'Our stolen future'
- Center for the Evaluation of Risks to Human Reproduction (CERHR)
National Toxicology Program, U.S. Government
- NIOSH special report on reproductive health
- List of Scientific publications on Occupational Reproductive Hazards
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Users not protected by reprotoxin labelling
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