Asbestos in the naval industry at the end of the 20th century: the case of Valencia’s harbour

Abstract

This paper deals with the risks of asbestos in the Spanish naval industry during the late 20th century and the early 21st century. We review the industry “Unión Naval de Levante” (UNL) and the asbestos victims’ association “ADV-Amianto Valencia”. Mobilizing concepts such as “agnotology” or “slow violence”, and other perspectives from recent scholarship on history of toxic products, we offer a general overview of the studies on asbestos in 20th-century Spain, as a starting point for the discussion of this problem at the shipbuilding industry in Valencia. We show the lack of security measures and information about risks for the workers of the Unión Naval de Levante. When the first workers got sick, they created a victims’ association to suggest improvements in their health monitoring and to demand justice in collaboration with medical and legal experts. Finally, we review the strategies employed by the company and the victims in trials concerning the liability of the industry Unión Naval de Levante.