Enormous gaps IDd in the recognition of occupational cancers in Europe
A new report by EUROGIP presents an analysis of the extent to which occupational cancers are recognised in nine European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. It also looks at the schemes for identifying occupational cancers, especially via monitoring the health of people exposed to carcinogens in the course of their working careers.
The report looks at how the data has developed between 2005 and 2016. From an overall perspective, little progress has been made. Occupational cancers remain greatly under-recognised, weighing heavily on all prevention efforts. Austria and Germany are the only two countries where any real progress can be seen over this 12-year period. In the case of Germany, the progress is mainly in the field of skin cancers, which account for 39% of occupational cancers recognised in 2016. However, these do not feature at all in the figures for Austria and Sweden and only to a very low degree in those of France and Switzerland. In certain countries, the number of cancer cases recognised as occupational diseases has even gone down (Italy and Sweden), despite better knowledge of the links between cancer and occupational exposure.