Justice for asbestos victims and the politics of compensation: the French experience

Our plain-English summary of Justice for asbestos victims and the politics of compensation: the French experience, by A. Thébaud-Mony (International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2003).

The study

• Author: A. Thébaud-Mony
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Published: 2003;9(3):280-6
• Cited by: 13 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

This paper presents the history of asbestos mining and manufacture in France, the strategies of the multinational asbestos firms to become major international participants, the failures of occupational health and safety that allowed an epidemic of asbestos-related diseases to occur, and the important social movement of the victims of asbestos exposure. The asbestos industry thrived in France until the health effects of asbestos exposure were made public. At that time, the industry had already moved its mining and manufacture to developing countries, where they were able to take advantage of limited regulation and enforcement of occupational and environmental laws. The author analyzes the compensation systems that were approached with varying degrees of success by the victims of asbestos exposure. France banned all manufacture and use of asbestos in 1997, and in the years that have followed, it has enjoyed many successes in achieving compensation for asbestos victims.

In plain English

This article was a historical and policy analysis of asbestos in France, not a study of patients or exposure measurements. The author described the French asbestos industry, industry strategies such as promoting "controlled use", and the social movement of asbestos victims. The article reported that asbestos cement products made up 80% of the French market and that asbestosis was not added to the official list of compensable occupational diseases until 1945. Citing an INSERM report requested by the government, it stated that in 1996 alone asbestos could be considered responsible for over 2,000 cancer deaths in France. A ban was announced in July 1996 and took effect on January 1, 1997. The author described the victims' association ANDEVA (more than 7,000 members) and a February 28, 2002 French Supreme Court ruling that redefined an employer's "inexcusable fault". The author also described the compensation fund FIVA, created in 2000 and financed 75% by occupational injury and illness funds and 25% by the state. The author argued that the gap between mesothelioma deaths and recognized cases showed France was falling short, and wrote that it was too early to judge FIVA.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Historical and policy analysis (narrative review) of asbestos industry history, the victims' movement and compensation systems in France
• Who was studied: France: the asbestos industry, exposed workers and asbestos victims and their associations, from the early 1900s to 2002
• Exposure: Asbestos in general, with no fiber type specified. Mining (ended 1962), imported asbestos, asbestos cement (80% of the market), asbestos textiles (Amisol factory), sprayed asbestos (Jussieu University campus), and use in insulation, construction and many industries
• Main results:
  • Asbestosis was not registered on the French official list of compensable occupational diseases until 1945
  • According to the INSERM report requested by the French government, asbestos could be considered responsible for over 2,000 cancer deaths in France in 1996 alone
  • The French asbestos ban was announced in July 1996 and became effective on January 1, 1997
  • In the 1970s, media coverage of the Jussieu University struggle led to a ban on the asbestos spray process, recognition of mesothelioma as an occupational disease, and the first occupational asbestos exposure threshold in labor law
  • The victims' association ANDEVA had more than 7,000 members, supported by a network of 25 local associations
  • On February 28, 2002, the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) redefined employer's inexcusable fault. It is now established when the employer knew or should have known of a risk and did not take the necessary protective measures. The change came in 29 decisions on asbestos claims.
  • The compensation fund FIVA, created by the Social Security Law of 2000, is financed 75% by the funds for occupational injuries and illnesses and 25% by the state
  • The author stated that the gap between the number of mesothelioma deaths and the number of recognized cases shows France is falling short of a true recognition of the size of the epidemic
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that asbestos mining and manufacture produced an epidemic of asbestos-related diseases in France. This gave rise to a social movement, followed by the 1997 ban and the 2002 Supreme Court recognition of victims' claims of employer's inexcusable fault. The author wrote that much remains to be done, including criminal accountability and remediation of asbestos in the community.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • No precise data exist on the occupations of people who died of mesothelioma and other pleural cancers
  • The data on compensated cases do not include gender and occupation
  • It was too early to assess the success of the FIVA compensation fund

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Exposure.

Related studies

• Global asbestos justice: South African asbestos victims win right to sue Cape PLC in U.K. courts — L. Kazan-Allen (2001)
• Environmental policies, politics, and community risk perception: case study of community contamination in Casper, Wyoming — M. Tajik, K. Gottlieb, et al. (2007)
• The James Hardie story: asbestos victims' claims evaded by manufacturer — B. Hills (2005)
• James Hardie asbestos victims compensation summary — Australian Council of Trade Unions (2008)
• Cape Plc: South African mineworkers' quest for justice — R. Meeran (2003)
• Compensation of pleural mesothelioma in France: data from the French National Mesothelioma Surveillance Programme — S. Chamming's, B. Clin, et al. (2013)

Browse more research in International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, or return to medical research.