title: [Scientific evidence and legal liability in occupational health: indemnity claim based on lack of safety and hygiene controls after a worker's death due to mesothelioma].
abstract: The aim of this paper is to reflect, under the precautionary principle, on the relationship between scientific causation and legal liability in connection with a lawsuit regarding compensation for lack of occupational safety and hygiene controls following the death of a worker with mesothelioma that had been previously accepted as an occupational disease. The worker had spent 28 years as a shipyard welder, with a diagnosis of occupationally-related mesothelioma in 2007, and who died in 2009. After reviewing the advances in a) scientific knowledge on the health effects of asbestos exposure, which were consolidated between 1955 and 1976, and b) the development of a regulatory framework for the protection of workers in Spain that began generically in 1940 and became more specific in 1982, we conclude that our case probably would have benefited from application of the precautionary principle, which is now widely accepted.
authors.affiliation: CISAL-Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Doctor Aiguader, 88, Barcelona, 08003 Spain. fernando.benavides@upf.edu.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: G Benavides
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Menéndez-Navarro
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Delclòs
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luque
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001194:Asbestos / Q000009:adverse effects; D002423:Cause of Death; D006801:Humans; D016365:Liability, Legal; D008297:Male; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000209:etiology; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D013030:Spain
chemical_list: D001194:Asbestos