A global "zero cancer" campaign aimed at tackling the number one workplace killer was launched today, one day prior to April 28 Workers' International Memorial Day.

Speaking at a World Health Organisation seminar on the prevention of occupational and environment cancer in Geneva, Anita Normark, General Secretary of the Building Workers' International launched the global "zero cancer" campaign and called on workplace regulators and employers to do more to end the worldwide epidemic of occupational cancer, which claims at least one life every 52 seconds.

"Bad, and often illegal, working conditions cause ill health that mean disaster for hundreds of thousands of families every year," said Normark. "The social invisibility of the impact of working conditions on our health creates a vicious circle where diseases are not recognised as occupational, so they are not recorded, notified, treated or compensated and, worst of all, they are not prevented," said Normark.

"Occupational cancer is the most common work-related cause of death, ahead of other work-related diseases and accidents, but it is not taken seriously by regulators or employers. Asbestos alone accounts for an estimated 100,000 deaths each year. While our global campaign to ban deadly asbestos is gaining momentum, much more needs to be done to prevent exposure to asbestos which is already present in millions of buildings and workplaces all over the world." Normark added.

A coalition of 11 global unions together representing over 300 million members in more than 150 countries has produced a new cancer prevention guide, which reveals that over 600,000 deaths a year – one death every 52 seconds – are caused by occupational cancer, making up almost one-third of all work-related deaths.

Marcello Malentacchi General Secretary of the International Metalworkers' Federation added: "This epidemic has to stop. Trade unions in hundreds of countries have joined the campaign. We'll be calling for widespread workplace mapping, inquiries and surveys, and a big drive to get rid of the top killers, such a achieving a global ban on asbestos."

Occupational Cancer/Zero Cancer: a union guide to prevention, available at http://www.imfmetal.org/cancer, provides information about workplace cancer risks and advice on practical steps workers and unions can take to make workplaces safer.

Notes to editors:

1. Occupational Cancer/Zero Cancer: a union gude to prevention is published in English, French, Spanish and Russian on the IMF website at www.imfmetal.org/cancer
2. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that occupational cancer causes over 600,000 deaths a year – one death every 52 seconds – making up almost one-third of all work-related deaths.
3. A World Health Organisation (WHO) study concluded 20-30 per cent of males and 5-20 per cent of females in the working-age population could have been exposed to an occupational lung cancer risk during their working lives.
4. 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.
5. The zero cancer coalition includes the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Building and Woodworkers' International (BWI), Education International (EI), International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Union (ICEM), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF), International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), Public Services International (PSI), UNI Global Union (UNI) and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF).
6. ILO's 1974 occupational cancer convention (C.139) has only been ratified by 35 countries worldwide. ILO's 1986 asbestos convention (C.162) is ratified by fewer countries still, with just 29 countries signed up.

For further details, interviews or photos please contact:

Anita Gardner, IMF Press, on: + 41 79 815 72 51 (English)

Toni Mast, BWI, on: +41 (0) 22 827 3784 (English, Swedish)
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