China revises occupational disease classification

The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Tuesday began soliciting public opinions on its revised list of ailments considered occupational diseases.

The catalogue of diseases occurring as a result of work and which may therefore be given special consideration under insurance has been newly amended to include AIDS contracted by medical staff through exposure at work.

The revised regulation includes 130 kinds of occupational diseases and adds 17 work-related illnesses to the list. However, chlordimeform toxicosis has been removed from the list as manufacture and use of the chemical that causes it has been prohibited, according to the MOH.

The amendment also classifies occupational diseases into 10 categories, which specifies work-related lung diseases and other respiratory illnesses as one major category.

Of the newly added ailments, five are related to lung diseases caused by metal powder, erionite, double chlorine methyl ether and other materials.

For lack of necessary protection, pneumoconiosis is a major occupational disease in China, especially among miners.

Statistics from Daaiqingchen.org (eliminating pneumoconiosis with love), a charitable foundation established to help treat migrant workers who have developed the disease, show that about 6 million rural Chinese are affected by the disease.