495 Workplace Carcinogens Listed
By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
A group of labor unions, environmentalists and civic activists Thursday disclosed a list of 495 carcinogens that their research showed are in materials being used in Korea and urged the administration to take tougher action to prevent their use.
The Carcinogen Monitoring Network held a press briefing at the National Assembly and classified the materials into three grades by their level of risk. There were 51 class-A, 187 class-B and 257 class-C substances.
Well-known carcinogens, including benzene, chromium compounds and formaldehyde as well as unfamiliar names aldrin and captafol, were reported to affect the prevalence of various cancers or fatal illnesses in the lungs, liver, muscles, bladder and elsewhere.
The members claimed that the government should ban the use of class-A materials at all places while company managements should refrain from or at most sparingly use B and C carcinogens.
The list was drawn up by 30 health or chemical experts with ties to NGOs and will be revised every year. Its aim is to verify all the carcinogens on Earth.
The list came as more people raised suspicion about work safety regarding chemicals. The nation's largest tire maker, Hankook Tire, is accused of maintaining a toxic chemical-using environment, which might have triggered the deaths of more than 13 workers. Samsung Electronics is also undergoing a court battle against former workers suffering from leukemia claiming to have been caused by chemicals at the workplace.
The network will look into the working environment of individual workplaces and verify which harmful chemicals are used and for what purpose.
"While the European Union monitors workplaces for 1,178 chemicals that are carcinogens, the Korean government has a list of only 90. Most of them are monitored rather than prohibited from use," Kwak Hyun-seok, spokesman for the network, said. "The umbrella union members will check production to get rid of the 495 chemicals.
They will also track the health status of retired workers since cancer prevalence is high among seniors. We will verify their relations."
Professor Choi Sang-joon of the Catholic University of Daegu said the list should be accessible to everyone. "The Ministry of Labor has been relatively loose in their management. But we will be facing more work-related diseases in the future if we do not instill stricter rules," he said.
According to the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, cancer was the leading cause of death in 2006.
A total of 65,909 people died of cancer, representing 27 percent of the 246,113 deaths in the nation. A separate statistic by the ministry showed that 329.6 people out of every 100,000 are suffering from various malignant tumors.
"The best way to prevent cancer is by eliminating the use of carcinogens," Choi said.