WTF HSE

[OhBotherSaidPoo]

Once again women are merely reproductive vessels.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g4dvkg847o

All they are doing is looking at the difference in impact on women v men. Just like everyone is complaining medical research doesn't do.

No. They want to give women legally lower limits for no reason other than potential harm on humans that as yet do not exist and may never exist.

Do we call men reproductive rods then?

Well yes. That’s why if you are prescribed thalidomide you also need to be using contraception. Do you think there should be no regulation of teratogens?

A medication is very different to a job.

The next natural step from here is women can't drink incase they may be pregnant, or eat soft cheese and some fish species. How about ibuprofen?

We either have complete body autonomy or none at all.

25 years ago I worked in a lab job where women of reproductive age were not allowed to use a particular substance (MTT).
We didn't worry we would be out of a job, we considered it a sensible precaution.
I actually became pregnant during that employment.
It's good news they are protecting us and our unborn children.

But what about the women who become pregnant unexpectedly while working with lead? Many wouldn't want to be put in the position where their unborn child could have been harmed due to exposure above the legal limit.

Regulations don't exist for no reason, they're being updated because the current regulations will have been found to not adequately protect unborn children when women don't yet know they're pregnant.

Lots of regulations have different limits on hazardous substances where an unborn child could be affected and it's absolutely standard to treat all women as if they could possibly be pregnant.

If you went for an X-ray where the womb could be exposed they would ask you if you might be pregnant and unless pregnancy can be excluded, some radiographs won't be taken.

"We either have complete body autonomy or none."

So lets get rid of all chemical safety advice and exposure limits for everyone? Asbestos? Dioxin? Organophosphates? Paraquat? Mercury?

While we're at it, how about getting rid of the requirement for radiologists to wear PPE and dosimeters.

Way to completely miss the point.
But let's stay with radiographers here because the equivalent for them would be to give female radiographers of a childbearing potential lower limits than their male counterparts, so low in fact, that they would be unable to work.

Still think that's ok?

Or they could start putting sufficient protection measures in place so all people aren't exposed to dangerous amounts of lead.

Reading about this issue, it appears that it's hands on work without adequate ventilation and respiratory protection that's the issue so it could be that they could work in a different way that will mean it's safe for women who may become pregnant.

The other consideration is that lead can remain in the body for a long time so exposures received now could affect the health of a child conceived in 10/20 years time. They can't start questioning 20 something women about whether they may or may not want to have children, in case they may be exposed to lead that may make it unsafe many years in the future.

Or they could start putting sufficient protection measures in place so all people aren't exposed to dangerous amounts of lead.

Exactly like they did for the (mostly) men who used to get vibration issues in their hands due to those pneumatic tools they use on roadworks.
And now there are limits on how long they can use them for.

Does it affect men's reproductive health too or only women's?

It's not teratogenic in men if that is what you mean. It causes birth defects in embryos.

Oh i see. I obviously didn't read properly!