ANSES calls for cancers of the larynx and ovaries to be recognized more easily as occupational diseases when they are linked to exposure to asbestos.
- The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has recognized the causal link between ovarian and laryngeal cancers and asbestos exposure since 2012.
- Between 1965 and 1995, asbestos was responsible for more than 35,000 deaths.
This is confirmed by theNational Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) in a report published on Monday 19 September: asbestos, via prolonged exposure in the context of work, would be responsible for cancer of the larynx and that of the ovaries.
Asbestos exposure: creating a table of occupational diseases
For the moment, only broncho-pulmonary cancers and cancers of the pleura (membranes that surround the lungs) are the subject of a table of occupational diseases linked to exposure to asbestos. ANSES therefore pleads for the creation of a table of occupational diseases grouping together those of the larynx and the ovaries.
“Setting up an automatic recognition system for these two asbestos-related cancers, which will operate in a similar way to the existing recognition system for cancers of the pleura and the lung, will be a step forward for patients who until now had difficult to be recognized as victims of an occupational disease, believes Michel Parigot, president of the anti-asbestos committee of Jussieu. Today, it is possible to have these cancers recognized as an occupational disease, but the victim must himself provide proof of the link between his disease and his work..
Towards better recognition of ovarian and laryngeal cancers
Indeed, between 2010 and 2020, only 130 applications for recognition of laryngeal cancer as occupational diseases were analyzed and barely six for ovarian cancer. “According to the analysis of the data collected in this expertise, these cancers (from the larynx and ovaries) related to occupational exposure to asbestos are under-reported and under-recognized”, can we read in the report.
“The creation of an occupational disease table would facilitate the recognition of these cancers, and therefore the compensation of patients, by making it possible to automatically recognize the link with an occupational exposure from the moment the claimant meets the conditions defined by the table.”, explains ANSES.
Several sectors affected by these occupational diseases
Until 2017, when it was banned, asbestos was one of the components used in building materials. Professionals in the construction sector have therefore been on the front line, but there are also those in the transport, agricultural and waste disposal sectors. Since then, it has been proven that asbestos has caused cancer and death in workers who have been exposed to it.
In the future, ANSES intends to continue its investigations in order to determine the link between asbestos and other pathologies, including stomach or colon cancer.
