The European Union’s CAREX database of occupational exposures to carcinogens estimated that in the early 1990s 22-24 million workers in the then 15 EU member states were exposed to carcinogens classified as group 1 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer – those known to cause cancer in humans. Overall, 32 million workers, 23 per cent of the working population, had workplace exposures associated by the CAREX database with an occupational cancer risk. The most common exposures were solar radiation, environmental tobacco smoke, crystalline silica, radon and wood dust. That over 1 in 5 workers face a.
