The legislation is a move to prevent occupational diseases, which are mostly irreversible but preventable, according to Yin Dakui, vice-minister of public health, who delivered the draft law to the ongoing session of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, which opened yesterday.

Following international practice, the draft law establishes a pre-evaluation system to monitor occupational diseases from their source.

It stipulates that construction firms should conduct pre-evaluations on possible occupational harm that might occur in the working environment during the feasibility study stage of a project.

Preventive facilities should be designed, constructed and operated along with the main body of all projects.

Construction firms should also run evaluations on the usefulness of preventive measures, says the draft law.

It is necessary to have legislation on the prevention and control of occupational diseases because they affect the health of laborers as well as incur heavy economic burdens from the high cost of medical treatment and recovery, Yin said.

Cases of death, deformity and loss of labor-hours generated by working in toxic and harmful environments or in dust or radiation pollution have been increasing throughout the nation, outstripping production safety and traffic accidents, he added.

Occupational diseases have occurred in 82 percent of village or township-run enterprises, harming 30 percent of employees, due to inadequate techniques and poor production conditions, Yin said.

Using loopholes in the Chinese legislation, some foreign investors have introduced outmoded techniques that lead to occupational harm in China and have cut back on investment in prevention facilities and even concealed the true names and toxicity of chemicals used that would normally be forbidden in foreign countries, he said.

(China Daily 06/27/2001)