POINT OF VIEW/ Hiroshi Jonai: Legal structure needed on risk from chemicals

Workplace accidents involving chemicals appear to be never-ending.

In January, three workers died from carbon-monoxide poisoning while laying pipes for industrial water in an underground pit.

A month earlier, a fire at an ethylene plant in Ibaraki Prefecture killed four workers.

Each time such tragedies occur I am reminded of the absence of a national framework to educate the public--workers and consumers both--and bring about preventive measures.

Industrial accidents are nothing new to Japan. There were scores during the period of high economic growth that started in the 1950s, and as a result, industries banded together to create a safe working environment.

Nowadays, however, industry officials are wont to blame accidents on the failure of previous generations to adequately pass down the safety systems established by postwar baby boomers.

The consensus seems to be that generic safety education is all that is lacking.

But is that really the only problem? I cannot help but think there is a more serious issue at play, and one that is unique to Japan: the absence of a system to inform workers of the danger of chemical substances and other hazardous materials.

Such a system has neither been legally established nor even socially accepted in Japan, unlike many other forward-thinking countries.

For proof, one need look no further than the people who developed lung cancer and mesothelioma after repeated exposure to asbestos. "We had no idea we were inhaling such a dangerous substance," is a complaint commonly heard among this group.

Another example was the ignorance of patients who contracted hepatitis C through tainted blood products, many of whom said they had no idea there was a risk of viral infection.

Bluntly speaking, the government and industries have for too long neglected their "duty to inform" the public about potential dangers, while workers and consumers have treated their "right to know" with blissful indifference.

The United States and Europe have been tackling such problems regarding chemicals for several decades. When a product contains a dangerous substance, for example, a warning label is attached to alert users.

In 2003, the United Nations Economic and Social Council published a recommendation in the form of guidelines called the "Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals" (GHS) aimed at protecting human health and the environment. It is an initiative to introduce a global standard to classify and label harmful substances.

I had a hand in drafting the recommendation. The work led to a re-examination of legal frameworks in the United States and Europe, and in a few years a comprehensive, multinational system is expected to be launched for worldwide consumption.

But Japan has no legal framework to adopt the system as is.

Based on the 2003 U.N. recommendation, Japan's Industrial Safety and Health Law was revised in 2006 to require that warning labels be used with 99 substances, but only when found in products used in the workplace. The number is paltry, considering there are 60,000 kinds of chemical substances in the workplace.

The creation of a "safety culture" was proposed decades ago. Unfortunately, based on the numerous problems concerning safety in recent years, I feel we are actually moving backward, away from our goal.

It is important to educate workers and consumers, but it is easier said than done. Before tackling worker and consumer education, we must create a system to alert them to the dangers using labels or other means. If people know that what they are handling is potentially dangerous, it is only natural to believe they will pay more attention and take precautions.

Unless people are informed, it is difficult for them to make the proper decisions. Informing the public needs to become part of our government and social fabric. I urge lawmakers to establish a legal framework aimed at informing the public, from consumers to workers, about product safety.

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The author is a professor at the Graduate School of Science and Technology, Nihon University.(IHT/Asahi: May 5,2008)