Occupational exposure to carcinogens in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and theCzech Republic in 1997

Objectives The aim of the study was to estimate the numbers of workers expo sed to carcinogens in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic. Methods CAREX is an international information system on occupational exposu re to 139 known and suspected carcinogens. It provides exposure data and es timates of the numbers of exposed workers by country, carcinogen, and indus try. The CAREX method, which has been previously applied in the member stat es of the European Union, was applied in the present study to the exposure situation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic in 1997. Th e preliminary estimates generated by CAREX were reviewed and revised by nat ional experts mainly for asbestos, benzene, and lead, which were of special interest for this project. Results The numbers of workers exposed to carcinogens covered by CAREX in 1 997 were about 180 000 (29% of employed persons) in Estonia, 260 000 (28% o f employed persons) in Latvia, 470 000 (28% of employed persons) in Lithuan ia, and 1 400 000 (28% of employed persons) in the Czech Republic. The most common exposures were solar radiation (7-13% exposed at least 75% of the w orktime), environmental tobacco smoke (4-5% exposed at least 75% of the wor ktime), wood dust (3-5% exposed), crystalline silica (2-3% exposed), diesel exhaust (2-3% exposed), radon and its decay products (2% exposed), benzene (0.9-1.7% exposed), and lead and inorganic lead compounds (0.8-1.4% expose d). Exposure to asbestos was slightly less prevalent (0.3-1.1% exposed). Conclusions These preliminary results indicate that a substantial proportio n of the workers in the studied countries were exposed to carcinogens.