Cytostatic active ingredients are mainly used for treat cancer, both in human medicine and in veterinary medicine. De the manufacture and handling of these products, including transport, waste management, cleaning, these are close to 92,000 employees who are regularly exposed to it. However, as pointed out by ANSES in a press release“eDue to their mechanisms of action, cytostatics are likely to present carcinogenic properties for healthy cells. Paradoxically, these drugs that treat cancer patients can therefore expose the caregivers who handle them to substances that are themselves carcinogenic..
Warn users of the potential risk
Based on existing European or international assessments, ANSES is now proposing to include work exposing 18 active ingredients of anti-cancer drugs To the French decree fixing the list of carcinogenic substances, mixtures or processes, within the meaning of the labor code.
“Unlike products used in an industrial environment, European regulations do not require the user to be warned of the dangerous nature of drugs via specific labelling. By proposing to include work involving exposure to these 18 substances in the French decree, we are contributing to the development of the regulatory framework for better protection of exposed professionals” underlines Henri Bastos, scientific director of health and work at ANSES.
Rather than the professions exposed, ANSES recommends taking into account the circumstances of exposure to cytostatic active ingredients:
- Exposure during the manufacture, packaging, preparation, transport and handling of drugs;
- Exposure during the implementation of protocols involving one or more of the identified substances;
- Exposure due to contamination of the working environment or via waste and excretion management.
“To define effective prevention levers, it is necessary to take an interest in the entire chain of exposure, from the preparation of drugs and their administration, to the contamination of personnel by the patient’s excreta (sweat, vomit) or even the treatment laundry or waste” says Henri Bastos.
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