Occupational exposure to carcinogens in the European Union

Objectives-To construct a computer assisted information system for the esti mation of the numbers of workers exposed to established and suspected human carcinogens In the member states of the European Union (EU). Methods-A database called CAREX (carcinogen exposure) was designed to provi de selected exposure data and documented estimates of the number of workers exposed to carcinogens by country, carcinogen, and industry. CAREX include s data on agents evaluated by the International Agency for Research on Canc er (IARC) (all agents in groups 1 and 2A as of February 1995, and selected agents in group 2B) and on ionising radiation, displayed across the 55 indu strial classes. The 1990-3 occupational exposure was estimated in two phase s. Firstly, estimates were generated by the CAREX system on the basis of na tional labour force data and exposure prevalence estimates from two referen ce countries (Finland and the United States) which had the most comprehensi ve data available on exposures to these agents. For selected countries, the se estimates were then refined by national experts in view of the perceived exposure patterns in their own countries compared with those of the refere nce countries. Results-About 32 million workers (23% of those employed) in the EU were exp osed to agents covered by CAREX. At least 22 million workers were exposed t o IARC group 1 carcinogens. The exposed workers had altogether 42 million e xposures (1.3 mean exposures for each exposed worker). The most common expo sures were solar radiation (9.1 million workers exposed at least 75% of wor king time), environmental tobacco smoke (7.5 million workers exposed at lea st 75% of working time), crystalline silica (3.2 million exposed), diesel e xhaust (3.0 million), radon (2.7 million), and wood dust (2.6 million). Conclusion-These preliminary estimates indicate that in the early 1990s, a substantial proportion of workers in the EU were exposed to carcinogens.