NON-MELANOMA SKIN CANCER AS AN OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE

What is the impact on the society and the welfare system and how this can be addressed from the Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan?

The event will draw attention to the issue of NMSC as an occupational disease and call on key stakeholders to support access to better care for those affected and for retired workers.

While the prevalence and economic costs of NMSC continue to increase, outdoor workers lack legislative protection.

Preliminary Programme:

11:30 – 11:35 Welcome address, housekeeping rules and introduction
Swen Malte John, Professor and Chairman, Dept. Dermatology, Environmental Medicine, Health Theory, University of Osnabrück, EADV Task Force Occupational Skin Diseases, ICOH Scientific Committee Occupational and Environmental Dermatoses
Antonella Cardone, ECPC Director

11:35 – 11:45 Keynote speaker
Alexander Stratigos, EADV President

11:45 – 12:40 panel discussion

How can the EU protect outdoor workers?
Jens Gieseke, Member of the European Parliament

Incidence of NMSC in outdoor workers
Speaker to be confirmed

EU health and safety at work legislation: How can it contribute to the prevention of NMSC?
Laura Vicente, Policy Officer – Risk Management Policy team of DG EMPL, European Commission

My NMSC journey
Tony Long , Patient representative

What changes should be done in policy to protect outdoor workers?
Rolf Gehring, European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW)

Preventing NMSC among outdoor workers: Best practices
Arnd Spahn, European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT)

12:40 – 12:50 Q&A

12:50 – 13:00 What’s next? Concluding remarks

Speaker’s bios:

Swen Malte John.

Occupational dermatology, epidemiology and allergology, including the implementation and scientific evaluation of systematic interdisciplinary approaches to the prevention of occupational skin diseases with an emphasis on workers’ education strategies (“Osnabrueck model”). Other research interests are skin bioengineering, cutaneous susceptibility and immuno-genetics. SMJ wrote 187 papers (average IF=1.88, h-index 33) and is lead-editor of major textbooks in the field, incl. Kanerva’s Occupational Dermatology, Springer, 3rd edition. He coordinates the Pan-European awareness raising EADV “Healthy Skin@Work campaign (Slogan: “Your skin. The most important 2m² of your life!”), which is an official partner of EU OSHA “Healthy Workplaces”. He is chair of an EU Horizon 2020 COST Action “StanDerm” (TD 1206), which successfully developed evidence based standards on prevention and management of occupational skin diseases – from irritant/allergic contact dermatitis, environmentally triggered predispositional diseases like atopic dermatitis & psoriasis to occupational keratinocytic skin cancers (JEADV 31, Supplement 4 [2017]). StanDerm comprises 31 European countries and more than 150 experts in the field of occupational dermatology. He is also member of the ILO “Core Experts Group on the Guidance Notes on Diagnostic and Exposure Criteria for the Occupational Diseases List” and the WHO “Intersun project advisory committee” as well as the lead reviewer to the current ILO/WHO global burden of occupational diseases project (“Joint methodology”, WG 4: Skin Cancer by UV).

Antonella Cardone.

Antonella Cardone is the Director of the European Cancer Patient Coalition (ECPC), which is the largest cancer patient umbrella organization in Europe with over 450 members from 48 countries. She has 25 years of  experience working for non-profits in health, social and employment sectors. Prior to ECPC, Antonella was the Executive Director of the Fit for Work Global Alliance, a multi-stakeholder coalition championing change in health and work policy. She has previously served as the  Director of the Global Smoke-free Partnership of the American Cancer Society, leading a movement of over 100 members to coordinate the development of smoke-free laws in 40 countries. She holds a Master’s in Science and one in Business Administration. She currently represents ECPC on the Board of Pancreatic Cancer Europe, in which she is vice-chair, and she is also Board Member of All.Can.

Alexander Stratigos.

Alexander J. Stratigos, MD is Professor of Dermatology-Venereology and chair of the Department of Dermatology-Venereology at Andreas Sygros Hospital, University of Athens (Greece). His clinical and research interests include melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer, with particular emphasis to their epidemiology, prevention and treatment. He has authored or co-authored more than 280 articles. Dr. Stratigos has held administrative and committee positions in several professional societies, including the EADO (current Vice-President), the AAD and the Hellenic Society of Dermatology-Venereology. He is President of the European Academy of Dermatology-Venereology.

Jens Gieseke.

Jens Gieseke, member of the European Parliament since 2014, is a substitute member of the European Special Committee on Beating Cancer (BECA). Furthermore, he is a member of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) and a substitute member in the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI).

He is co-chair of the SME-Circle of the EPP-Group and chairman of the CDU in Emsland, northwestern Germany, where he grew up.

Jens Gieseke supports the initiative to beat Cancer and thinks that the fight against cancer should be a top priority for the European Union.

Laura Vicente.

Laura works as a policy officer in Directorate-General Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) at the European Commission. In her work in the Health and Safety unit in Luxembourg, Laura addresses the protection of workers’ health and safety from exposure to physical agents, including radiation.

Prior to joining the European Commission, she has worked at the Institute for Safety and Health in Madrid, at the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) as well as in the private sector. Laura has over 15 years’ experience in the field of occupational safety and health, at company, national and European levels. She has significant experience conducting research, developing policy and developing, implementing and enforcing legislation in the field of safety and health at work.

Tony Long.

Tony Long has worked in the environmental movement for forty years, first in the United Kingdom and subsequently at European and international levels. He was a European director for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) after founding and then leading its European Policy Office in Brussels for 25 years. He is the author of several articles on environmental campaigning and has taught as a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges. He holds a first-class honours degree from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, in Town and Country Planning.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (FRSA) and a former Harkness Fellow of the Commonwealth Fund of New York.

Rolf Gehring.

Rolf Gehring, 54 years old, was born in Hannover Germany. He worked from 1979 until 1992 as engine fitter in the metal industry. During that time, he was active as work council member and in different complementary functions in IG Metall. Later he studied education science and sociology at Hannover University. From 1998 until 2002 and then again from 2006 he is working for the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW). 2002 to 2006 he was working for IG Metall on local level. Today, he is responsible for the woodworking sectors and the topics of occupational safety and health.

Arnd Spahn

Arnd Spahn (62) is a national Economist from Germany and works since 2000 as political secretary for Agriculture at the European Federation of trade unions of food, agriculture and tourism (EFFAT). He coordinates the European interests of around 50 national trade unions of Agriculture from 34 European countries.