ABSTRACT
An 'historical champion in asbestos consumption' in which 200 people die every year of mesothelioma, Belgium is barely on the atlas of comparative legal scholarship, much less of comparative studies of asbestos compensation. The discussion begins with an historical roots and developments of workers' compensation. Labor unions' ambivalent attitude towards workplace safety and lack of interest in supporting expansion of asbestos compensation through litigation has certainly deprived asbestos victims of crucial support to foster claim consciousness and mobilization. However the protracted lack of access to and publication of epidemiological and pathological data, for which the medical profession is in part to be blamed, has affected asbestos compensation: medical evidence is a key tool in generating the kind of understanding that leads to developing the awareness and desire to demand compensation. Welfare policies included early retirement for many asbestos workers, and industrial restructuring was facilitated by low resistance from trade unions and workers.
