These are substances that few people associate with anything, it is technical talk about limit values and is certainly not the easiest thing to communicate in an exciting way. Yet it is something that Danish LEFT group MEP, Per Clausen, has specifically sought to work on – and now that work is bearing fruit:

We are finally approaching the culmination of something I have been working on for a long time in the EU Parliament, namely limit values ​​for 5 different carcinogenic substances in the workplace. It is important work that could potentially prevent thousands of people from dying from cancer.

After long negotiations, a compromise is now finalised on what and how much should be included in the new legislation.

The world’s most boring name?

Per Clausen, from Denmark’s Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) himself calls the legislation behind it “possibly the world’s most boring name”, while his press officer called it a “communication headache”. But that doesn’t stop it from being an important victory.

The bill is known in EU-circles as CMRD6, but its full name is the sixth revision of the Carcinogens, Mutagens or Reprotoxic Substances Directive. As Per Clausen points out, the significance is anything but boring:

The name may be cryptic, but it is about the lives and health of thousands. The improvements we are talking about are expected to prevent many cases of work-related lung cancer, other respiratory diseases, as well as liver and kidney damage in ordinary workers in the EU.

This means both a better quality of life and savings in the billions for the healthcare sector. So, the name may not be that sexy, but the results are sure to make you smile.

More information about the specific expectations for what it will mean can be found here.

The fight over content

Although the final commas are now being put into the EU Parliament’s compromise text, there were plenty of things to fight about when this began. One of Per Clausen’s points of critique is that the European Commission first asked the social partners to come to an agreement themselves on what could be included – and once that was achieved, then tried to ignore it completely, including on the substance isoprene:

The proposal we have discussed stems from an expert assessment with subsequent negotiations between representatives of employers, employees and EU countries. From my perspective, it was unacceptable to then, without any good reason, settle for a level that was lower than what the partners had agreed on. Fortunately, a compromise is now emerging that will keep the proposal unchanged, but it has certainly not been easy.

He goes on to say:

The first hurdle was that the European Commission wanted to drop the proposal to introduce limit values ​​for isoprene altogether. They believed that limit values ​​would cause too much trouble for the business community in relation to the gain. Fortunately, a large majority among the negotiators in the European Parliament agreed that we could not accept this, and instead demanded that the limit values ​​for isoprene be included.

Cobalt divided the waters

It became more difficult when it came to the question of the limit values ​​for cobalt, where the waters were truly divided. Per Clausen believes that this is mainly due to the fact that the conservative EPP group, the national conservative ECR group and the so-called “patriots” worked to weaken the proposed limit values ​​significantly, based on massive lobbying efforts from the cobalt industry. Fortunately, however, a coalition of the Left Group, Renew Europe, the Greens and the S&D Group succeeded in rejecting the dilution attempts. Pressure from what Per Clausen calls “the progressive alliance” eventually led the EPP group negotiator to maintain the proposed limit values, and Per Clausen is pleased with this:

This is a compromise that will of course not solve all the problems in the workplace with these substances. However, the new limit values ​​will mean that thousands of people will not get cancer or other injuries from going to work, so that is a result I am happy with.

Cobalt is included in several metal alloys used in everything from aircraft engines and cutting tools, to prostheses and medical equipment. Being exposed to cobalt can have numerous negative effects on health, including allergic reactions and asthma. In addition, it is classified as a carcinogen.

Furthermore, the directive also ensures better training in the use of safety equipment for workers exposed to substances harmful to health in their work, as well as the development of higher requirements for the safety of firefighters, as they are often exposed to dangerous substances in connection with fighting fires.