An informal agreement with EU governments, reached in December 2021, was adopted by MEPs, with 686 votes in favour, 4 against and 4 abstentions. The updated EU law aims at strengthening workers’ protection against carcinogenic and other hazardous substances, by setting EU-wide occupational exposure limits.

MEPs succeeded in including reprotoxic substances within the scope of the Directive for the first time. Reprotoxic substances are harmful to reproduction and can cause impaired fertility or infertility.

Parliament’s negotiators also secured an agreement that healthcare workers who deal with hazardous medicinal products (HMPs), half of which are reprotoxic, must receive sufficient and appropriate training on how to handle them safely. The agreed text asks the Commission to develop a definition for, and establish an indicative list of, HMPs, to and prepare guidelines for handling these substances, particularly in hospitals, by the end of 2022.

An estimated 12.7 million…