Optical radiation:
MEPs deal blow to protection of workers
The European Council and Commission have already stated that they would reject the Parliament's report if it excluded natural radiation or transferred responsibilities to member states, so the directive will now go into the conciliation procedure where the three institutions will try to find a compromise.
"Today's vote is a blow to workers across Europe. Skin cancer is the same regardless of whether you catch it from artificial or natural radiation, so by voting to exclude natural radiation from the directive, the conservatives and liberals have tried to undermine European health and safety standards. We support Europe-wide regulation, which will assess all of the dangers to employees which can arise from natural radiation."
"People have called for 'light touch' legislation in the EU, and to a great extent we agree – laws should be proportionate. But the touch cannot be so light that it fails to protect Europe's workers. People across Europe should have a minimum level of protection from dangers at work, and they will ultimately benefit from this legislation. We hope that the conciliation process will remove from the directive the disastrous decisions that Parliament took today."
The parliamentary report has been much discussed in the media in the last weeks, with tabloid newspapers in
[ENDS]