A Camel through the Eye of a Needle: Expertise and the Late Recognition of Asbestos-Related Diseases

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide new insights into the late recognition of asbestos-related diseases in contemporary societies. It addresses the role of expert culture in the identification, management, and control of asbestos risks, and examines the contribution of these processes to the late recognition and minimization of risks. After focusing first on Spain, the article presents three historical case studies to illustrate some shortcomings of the expert explanatory model. First, the narrow definition of asbestosis forged by medical experts in interwar Britain helped shape a public perception of the asbestos issue as finite and controllable. Second, the alternative approach to asbestos hazard management proposed by the Spanish trade union Comisiones Obreras in the early 1980s, inspired by the so-called Italian workers' model, prioritized locally produced knowledge. Finally, in the changing public view of asbestos risks in France during the last third of the 20th century, cultural and social factors played a crucial role in broadening the issue beyond its conception as just an occupational health problem. The author argues that expertise itself becomes a deproblematizing agent for industrial health issues, paving the way for their social invisibility.