EU: agreement reached on fresh revision of directive on carcinogens

On 1 December, the Council of the EU adopted its position on the sixth revision of Directive 2004/37 on carcinogens. The member state employment ministers propose to add isoprene (found in rubber) to the substances covered by the directive, in line with the opinion of the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work. It would be added to cobalt, 1,4-dioxane, welding fumes, mercury and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, for which the European Commission’s proposal, published in July, proposes