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Healthcare: Over 5,000 people die of professional cancer annually in Romania
Over 5,000 people die of professional cancer in Romania annually, while at European level there are 100,000 deaths. Direct costs of exposure to cancer inducing substances on the job are estimated at 2.4 billion euros a year in all Europe, according to data supplied by Labour Inspection.
“Cancer is considered the main cause of labour connected deaths in EU. Over 1000,000 deaths caused by professional cancer are recorded annually, which represent 53% of deaths determined by labour accidents and professional diseases altogether” a press release of Labour Inspection reads.
Data show that about 50,000 people die annually because of cancer in Romania, 10% of these deaths being caused by professional cancer.
In this context, Labour Inspection joins European actions of fighting professional cancer and announces it will begin controls with employers of all counties that use cancer inducing substances or chemical products that cause the disease. They include: asbestos, benzene, vinyl chloride, nickel, wood dust, products resulting from crude and coal processing, glass fibre. At the same time, the institution will take actions to inform people through its territorial inspectorates.
Work inspectors will verify activities and reasons why employers use cancer inducing agents, quantities of substances manufactured or used that contain cancer inducing agents, the nature and degree of exposure, cases of replacing cancer inducing agents, the updated nominal list of workers involved in activities for which risk evaluation results point out risk for their health and safety, exposures and medical exams.
The European Parliament requested member states to replace substances producing most professional diseases and asked labour inspections to intensify prevention and education initiatives that intend to make citizens aware of health and safety norms and procedures.