Thirty years after the ban on asbestos in France, compensating victims is still a challenge: only 2,745 people applied last year to the dedicated fund, FIVA, which now contacts victims directly to help them access their rights, it indicated on Wednesday, October 28.
Classified as a carcinogen in 1977 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), asbestos is a fibrous mineral that resists fire and was widely used in France, in industry and construction, until its ban almost thirty years ago, in 1997.
“ Prolonged inhalation of asbestos exposes individuals to cancers and serious, incurable respiratory and pleural diseases. »" – lung cancer, pleural mesothelioma, pleural plaques, asbestosis, and more rarely, cancers of the larynx and ovary - recalls the High Authority for Health (HAS), with an average latency period between exposure and the onset of these pathologies that can range from 20 to 40 years, or even more.
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117,000 victims and their families have filed claims with the Asbestos Victims Compensation Fund
While one to two million workers may have been exposed during maintenance or upkeep activities, including 900,000 in the construction sector, calculations the National Institute for Research and Safety (INRS) in 2007, Asbestos-related diseases are now the leading cause of work-related deaths, excluding work-related accidents.
Since its creation in 2001, more than 117,000 victims and their families have filed claims with the Asbestos Victims Compensation Fund (FIVA), including 2,745 last year, the public body, financed by the occupational accidents and diseases branch of the Social Security system, announced on Wednesday, October 29. Nearly €8 billion has been allocated to them since the fund's inception, which accepts 851,300 applications.
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A decree facilitates the identification of victims in order to improve their compensation.
“ We are talking about bronchopulmonary cancers that are not always operable, and mesotheliomas with extremely low life expectancies, once diagnosed, of 12 to 18 months.«", Anne Thauvin, the company's director, told AFP.« We observe a steady aging of the victims who come forward, men aged 71 on average: we cannot rule out the possibility that a number of them died without having contacted us.“.
A measure called the "outreach decree"« As stipulated by the 2024 Social Security financing law, the promulgation of which was delayed after consultation with the CNIL (French Data Protection Authority), the FIVA (Asbestos Victims Compensation Fund) has, since September, allowed the FIVA to directly contact individuals suffering from asbestos-related occupational diseases to help them assert their rights. Their names are provided by the Health Insurance system and the Agricultural Social Security funds (MSA).
“ 321 people were contacted, nearly 80 returned the forms: some will be able to receive compensation before the end of the year.«", according to Ms. Thauvin.
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