Some Considerations on the European Union and the Politics of Chemical Risk for Workers’ Health

Abstract

The European Union has established major tools for the protection of workers, consumers and the environment in relation to the use of chemicals. Some of these will be discussed in this paper, in particular with respect to the setting of limit values for chemicals in the workplace and with respect to the classification and labelling of existing chemicals, using the example of Man-Made Mineral Fibres. We will start with the identification of different kinds of uncertainties that can be encountered in the data used in the regulation of chemicals. Moreover, a general code will be introduced for regulators who have to face scientific data and their uncertainties, labelled the ‘Saracci paradigm’, and compliance of different Commission procedures with the paradigm will be assessed further in the paper. In the third part, some procedures related to chemicals and health protection under the mandates of the articles 100A and 118A of the Treaty of Rome will be introduced, and a comparison between these procedures will be made. The paper will then continue with an empirical analysis of the way chemicals are assessed under these two articles, which will take us into the workings of the Scientific Expert Group (now called Scientific Committee for Occupational Exposure Limits to Chemical Aspects (SCOEL) for the setting of limit values for chemicals in the workplace, and into the classification of ManMade Mineral Fibres, respectively.