EU urged to outlaw discrimination against diabetics

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 17th Nov 2004

To coincide with the re-launch of the EU Diabetes Working Group in the European Parliament and World Diabetes Day, London Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford is pressing EU bodies to tackle the big problem of discrimination against diabetics throughout Europe, especially in job bans.

45 million people in Europe, of which 1.8 million people in the UK, have the condition.

Most countries operate blanket bans on employment of diabetics in at least some jobs which involve driving or flying, such as the emergency services or armed forces. Sarah Ludford said:

"With huge advances in modern medicine and care, most diabetics now live a completely normal life. It is scandalous that exclusions based on outdated and prejudiced assumptions are still preventing people with diabetes pursuing careers of which they are perfectly capable. Every person's health should be assessed individually."

"The fact that the bans vary erratically from country to country shows how illogical they are. For instance in the UK a diabetic cannot be an air traffic controller, but if they moved to Greece or Portugal under EU free movement rules, they could do so!"

In a speech in the European Parliament Sarah Ludford has insisted on the abolition of this kind of generalised discrimination, which is contrary to EU equal opportunity laws, and urged fellow MEPs to take action nationally. She is following up with a question to the European Commission.

Notes:

1. The EU Diabetes Working Group was established by MEPs in 2002 in cooperation with the European Region of the International Diabetes Federation in order to address issues related to diabetes at European level.

2. According to a report of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes, in the UK people with diabetes (particularly, but not exclusively insulin users), are automatically denied work in a range of occupations including armed forces; jobs requiring an HGV licence; fire, ambulance and police service; working offshore; train driver; working at heights; and jockey.