Articles: Lawsuits likely in wake of asbestos exposure revelations of ‘artisans’

By Rick Mitchell

PARIS--Half of retired French artisanal workers—craftsmen—have been exposed to asbestos during their careers, according to early results from a French government study. A lawyer for France’s asbestos victims’ fund said the new findings could inspire product liability cases against companies in France.

From September 2005 to February 2007, researchers for the pilot phase of the Epidémiologie et Surveillance des Professions Indépendantes study contacted 2,334 retired workers from the Aquitaine, Limousin and Poitou-Charentes regions to determine if they had been exposed to asbestos, and if they had, the long-term health impact on them, according to the study report, “Programme de surveillance post-professionnelle des artisans ayant été exposés à l’amiante (Espri)” released in mid-September. The program offered exposed workers a free medical checkup, and treatment, if necessary, it said.

Exposed workers

“Overall, ... about one out of every two retired artisans ... had been exposed to asbestos during their careers, which averaged 25 years,” according to report by the healthwatch authority, Institut de Veille Sanitaire, which is conducting the study with the Régime Social des Indépendants, the social security organization for independent workers, to which most artisanal workers belong.

The program contacted workers—88% of whom were men—that had worked in a variety of areas including construction, metalwork, chemical, plumbing, manufacturing and mining, it said.

Of the exposed, some 25% had at least one anomaly or pathology— benign in most cases—that could be linked to asbestos, while a small percentage had suffered more serious health implications, the report said. The anomalies included: 42 people (13.4%) with benign lung abnormalities; 32 (10.2%) with isolated pulmonary nodules; 12 (3.8%) with pulmonary fibrosis; and two with suspected lung tumors and cancer.

The program, which the InVS plans to eventually extend to all potentially exposed retired artisans in France, will allow researchers to evaluate workplace exposure to asbestos by sector and profession, and how this population is compensated by public health insurance and by special funds for asbestos victims, the InVS said.

The asbestos victims’ association, Association Nationale de Défense des Victimes de l’Amiante, called the new data “particularly alarming” and demanded improved government protection of workers and increased compensation for those exposed.

“Hundreds of thousands of artisans (plumbers, pipefitters and welders, electricians, plasterers and bricklayers) have worked or still work—10 years after it was made illegal—in contact with asbestos in building sites and plants. They are still too rarely informed of the presence of carcinogenic material, and the risks and prevention measures necessary,” Andeva said on its Web site.

Jean-Paul Teissonière, Paris- based attorney for Andeva, said: “We could easily imagine many court cases that could be based on this new data, as artisans could charge that suppliers or manufacturers of materials that contained asbestos had provided defective products.”

“They could also sue the contractors that hired them for projects, but they would have to prove that the contractor required them to use a certain product that contained asbestos. Artisans often choose their supplies themselves,” he said.

State fund

Mr. Teissonière said asbestos victims can already get compensation for their illnesses from a state fund administered by social security.

The InVS estimates that 11,000 to 23,000 out of 280,000 cases of cancer detected annually are due to exposure to carcinogens at work, and artisans are particularly concerned.

“Although these cancer cases often occur after retirement, there is currently no standard system for post-work life observation of people enrolled in the various social security systems,” the report said.

“A 1995 regulatory framework (article D.461-25 of the social security code) exists, but it concerns only retired salaried workers and is rarely used, mainly because it is not well- known by the people concerned, just as they rarely realize that they have been exposed [to asbestos] during their careers,” continued the report.

(Appeared Sept. 24, 2007 issue)