Asbestos ban in France turns 30

Thirty years after France banned asbestos, compensating victims remains a challenge, with only 2,745 people requesting the dedicated fund, FIVA, last year, according to a report.

FIVA helps victims access compensation

The fund now contacts victims directly to help them access their rights, it stated on Wednesday, October 28. Asbestos, classified as carcinogenic as early as 1977 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), is a fibrous mineral that resists fire and was widely used in France in industry and construction until its ban nearly thirty years ago, in 1997.

Health risks of asbestos exposure

Prolonged inhalation of asbestos exposes individuals to cancers and serious, incurable respiratory and pleural diseases, including lung cancer, pleural mesothelioma, pleural plaques, asbestosis, and more rarely, laryngeal and ovarian cancers, according to the High Authority for Health (HAS). The average latency period between exposure and the onset of these diseases can range from 20 to 40 years, or even more.

FIVA has processed over 117,000 claims

Since its creation in 2001, more than 117,000 victims and their families have filed claims with the Asbestos Victims Compensation Fund (FIVA) to obtain compensation, of which 2,745 last year, announced the public organization on Wednesday, October 29, funded by the occupational accidents and occupational diseases branch (AT-MP) of Social Security. Nearly 8 billion euros have been awarded to them since the fund's creation, which accepts 85% of requests.

New decree aids in identifying victims

A decree facilitates the identification of victims to improve their compensation. "We are talking about bronchopulmonary cancers that are not always operable, mesotheliomas with life expectancies after diagnosis extremely low, between 12 and 18 months," said Anne Thauvin, the fund's director, to AFP. "We observe a regular aging of the victims who file claims with us, men averaging 71 years old: we cannot exclude the possibility that a number of them have died without having filed claims with us."

FIVA contacts victims directly

A measure called the "forward-looking decree," provided for by the 2024 Social Security Financing Act, whose promulgation, after the CNIL's opinion, was delayed, has allowed the FIVA since September to directly contact individuals affected by occupational diseases related to asbestos to help them claim their rights. Their names are provided by the Health Insurance and the Mutual Social Security Agricultural Funds (MSA). "321 people have been contacted, nearly 80 have returned the forms: some may be compensated before the end of the year," according to Thauvin.