Stop Cancer At Work

Campaign Launch

We are pleased to announce that on 13^th October 2020 the Stop Cancer at Work campaign officially launched. Read our press statement here.

Cancer is now the leading cause of work-related deaths in the EU with over 100,000 cancer deaths each year. From nurses to cleaners, workers across the EU are being put at risk by being exposed to deadly carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic substances in their place of work.

Stop Cancer at Work is working to eradicate occupational exposure to deadly substances and put an end to work-related deaths caused by cancer.

We are raising awareness and building support to ensure the European Commission is taking the appropriate action to protect workers across the EU.

The time for debate is over, the time for action to protect those who protect us is now.

The European Trade Union Institute (ETUI), European Public Services Union (EPSU) and European Biosafety Network (EBN) – with other partners including the European Federation of Nurses Associations (EFN), Standing Committee of European Doctors (CPME), European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC), European Specialist Nurses Organisation (ESNO), and European Association Pharmacy Technicians (EAPT) – have joined forces to launch the campaign Stop Cancer at Work.

The campaign is focused on securing action from the European Commission and EU co legislators to strengthen protection against cancer and reproductive harm at work under Directive 2004/37/EC, now the Carcinogens, Mutagens and Reprotoxic Substances Directive. Reprotoxic substances are already included in the Directive’s scope and title following the 2022 amendment, and the current priority is to ensure binding, enforceable controls for hazardous medicinal products, including carcinogenic cytotoxic drugs used in healthcare, by moving from indicative measures to clear legal obligations, including via the Directive’s ongoing sixth revision and related implementing steps.

To bring about this change in legislation, the campaign will demonstrate the widespread, pan-European support for legislation to stop cancer at work through the distribution of an online petition and available on the campaign’s website. The petition will then be presented to the EU Commissioner, Parliament and Council for immediate action.

Keep up to date with the campaign by following us on social media:
Twitter: @Stopcancer_
Facebook: @stopcanceratwork

Georgina Angusto Zambrano began her career as urology nurse in 1967 at the age of 17 in Barcelona. By the year 2000, Georgina was diagnosed with bladder cancer. For the next five years she fought in the Catalan Supreme Court to prove that her illness had been caused by the handling of cytostatic drugs during her career as a nurse. Georgina’s case was a landmark victory for thousands of workers across the EU who are at risk of developing cancer because of exposure to harmful substances at work. Despite the lack of institutional support, Georgina has now spoken at the European Parliament and World Health Organisation to raise awareness about the harm many workers face across the EU.

Read more about her story here:

https://www.etui.org/Topics/Health-Safety-working-conditions/HesaMag/Work-related-cancer-emerging-from-obscurity

Protecting your reproductive health:

The consequences of occupational exposure to harmful substances is not limited to cancer alone. Certain chemicals can cause a whole host of damaging effects on the human body, such as reprotoxins, which interfere with the reproductive system.

There is a wide range of reproductive health problems caused by workplace exposure to reprotoxins: reduced fertility or infertility, erectile dysfunction, menstrual cycle and ovulatory disorders, miscarriage, stillbirth, babies born too soon or too small, birth defects, child developmental disorders, to name a few. Occupational exposure to reprotoxins is especially prevalent in the healthcare sector, where workers are exposed to harmful treatments, such as chemotherapy.

As with cancer, we believe that people should be able to go to work without the worry that their job is damaging their reproductive health. Protections are already afforded to protect consumers from reprotoxins and we believe workers deserve the same. That is why this campaign is working to ensure that workers across the EU are not at risk of occupational exposure to reprotoxic substances.

What is the European Commission doing about it?

Reprotoxic substances are already covered at EU level under Directive 2004/37/EC, now referred to as the Carcinogens, Mutagens and Reprotoxic Substances Directive, following the 2022 amendment. Member States were required to transpose those changes into national law by 5 April 2024.

In addition, the Commission has taken steps specifically linked to hazardous medicinal products. It published non binding guidance on the safe management of hazardous medicinal products at work in 2023.

It then issued a Commission Communication establishing an indicative list of hazardous medicinal products, published in the Official Journal on 20 February 2025, to support workplace risk assessment and implementation.

What should be done?

1. Ensure full and consistent implementation and enforcement across all Member States, including in healthcare and all linked services where exposure can occur.
2. Strengthen practical, enforceable protections for workers who handle hazardous medicinal products, so that prevention and control measures are clear in law and not left to uneven practice.
3. Keep EU action moving by pushing for regular updates to the indicative list and for future revisions of the Directive to translate scientific evidence into binding requirements where needed.

The EU has made important progress, but workers still need strong, consistent protections in every workplace. Your support can help keep pressure on decision makers to prioritise prevention, enforcement, and safer handling of hazardous substances, including reprotoxic agents and hazardous medicinal products.

Firefighters

We are campaigning to protect all workers whose job it is to care for us, including firefighters. Not only do firefighters put their lives at imminent risk when putting out fires, but their lives are also threatened by the repeated exposure to burning chemicals over the length of their careers.

Disastrous events such as the incident at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, have opened our eyes to the broader threats posed to the health and safety of firefighters. In the years since 2001, many firefighters who risked their lives that day have struggled with long lasting illnesses, careers ending early and many have even taken their own lives. In Europe, too many firefighters are developing cancer and other illnesses from being exposed to harmful substances whilst doing their job.

What can be done? 

The European framework for preventing and reducing work related cancer and other serious health harms is set by Directive 2004/37/EC, now commonly referred to as the Carcinogens, Mutagens and Reprotoxic Substances Directive. It has been amended repeatedly in recent years to tighten protections, mainly by adding or updating binding limit values for priority substances. The most recent update, adopted on 13 March 2024, revises limit values for lead and its inorganic compounds and introduces EU level limit values for diisocyanates.

Even with these updates, stronger implementation and further improvements are still needed to reduce preventable disease and to address unequal risks across sectors and occupations. The Directive requires employers to assess exposures regularly, taking account of all routes of exposure including skin absorption, and to eliminate exposure where possible or otherwise reduce it as far as technically possible.

Understanding the different types of legislation, the varying decision-making bodies, and the procedural steps which lead to change can be complicated and confusing. Below you can find further information to download about the issue of cancer in the workplace including reports and case studies which highlight the severity of the problem.  

If you have any further questions do not hesitate to get in contact.

• 2026 EBN Whitepaper on Closed-System Disposal Devices

  EBN Whitepaper on how CSDDs can help to protect healthcare workers from exposure to HMPs
  Download

• 2024 EBN Whitepaper on preventing exposure to HMPs

  Preventing contamination, exposure and health impacts for workers from hazardous medicinal products (HMPs) at work by the implementation of closed systems in their manufacture and use
  Download

• ETUC – EU extends action on workplace cancer

  ETUC Press Release on an agreement being reached actions to prevent work-related cancer
  Download

• EU-OSHA Workers Exposure Survey findings

  Findings from EU-OSHA’s Workers Exposure Survey
  Download

• CPME-EFN-PGEU Joint Statement on the European Parliament EMPL-SANT Joint Own-Initiative Report on the European Healthcare Workforce

  Joint Statement from the CPME, EFN, and the PGEU on the EMPL–SANT Committees’ own-initiative report on the European healthcare workforce.
  Download

• Preventing occupational exposure to Hazardous Medicinal Products

  A joint Summit on preventing occupational exposure to HMPs hosted by Fórsa, the EBN, the HPAI and the NAHPT.
  Download

• Further protection for workers and healthcare professionals approved by European Parliament

  Stop Cancer at Work welcomes European Parliament’s further protection for workers and healthcare professionals from exposure to hazardous medicinal products
  Download

• Protecting health workers from hazardous products

  There is more clarity about hazardous medicinal products but awareness still needs to be raised to protect workers
  Download

• Online workshops: Guidance document for the safe management of hazardous medicinal products at work

  Guidelines for managing hazardous medicinal products (HMPs) will be published by December 2022
  Download

• SCAW Statement 16/12/2021

  Stop Cancer at Work Campaign welcomes progress made in protecting workers from cancer and reproductive problems at work
  Download

• ANSES Expert Advice Summary

  This document summarises the work of the Expert Committee on “Health reference values” and the Working Group on “Carcinogenic processes”
  Download

• SCAW Statement 30/06/2021

  Stop Cancer at Work Campaign calls on European Commission to approve legislation now to protect workers and patients from getting cancer
  Download

• SCAW Briefing Note 26/05/21

  Our briefing note on the inclusion of hazardous drugs and reprotoxins in the CMD
  Download

• SCAW Statement 27/04/21

  SCAW’s statement on the European Parliament’s confirmation of the need for immediate legislative action to help prevent workers contracting cancer at work.
  Download

• SCAW HMP Report Statement

  Statement on the European Commission’s recently published HMPs report
  Download

• SCAW Statement on expansion of CMD

  A statement on the EU Parliament’s vote to include hazardous drugs and reprotoxins in the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive
  Download

• European Parliament Employment Committee Exchange of Views on CMD4

  An overview of the European Parliament Employment Committee Exchange of Views on CMD4 on 23rd February 2021
  Download

• Basta Magazine news investigation into exposure to hazardous substances

  A news story from bastamag.net on exposure to hazardous substances
  Download

• Press statement for launch of Stop Cancer at Work Campaign

  Press statement for launch of Stop Cancer at Work Campaign
  Download

• Campaign launch media coverage

  Media coverage of the launch of the Campaign.
  Download

• ETUI Assessment – Chemical risks: are workers the big losers of the European strategy?

  Consumers are the clear winners from this strategy, but workers look to lose out.
  Download

• ETUI Briefing Note – HMP & CMD4

  ETUI on Inclusion of Hazardous Medicinal Products within the scope of the CMD.
  Download

• ETUI Briefing Note – Reprotoxins & CMD4

  Download

• EU’s Beating Cancer plan

  Read a summary of the EU’s initiative to beat cancer
  Download