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法医解剖後にアスベストの健康被害申請を行うために医学的検査を実施した事例を経験した．事例は，アスベスト作業歴のある60歳代の男性で，受診歴や健診歴はない．同居人は「数ヶ月前から咳や呼吸苦を生じて死亡した．」と話しているが，死因不明のために法医解剖に付された．左右の壁側胸膜に広範囲にわたる胸膜プラークと左右の肺に多発腫瘤を認め，死因を「肺癌」と診断した．後日，遺族から「石綿救済法」によるアスベストの健康被害申請のための医学的検査の依頼があり，石綿小体計測を行ったところ，乾燥肺重量1gあたり石綿小体を4,860本検出したものの認定に必要な5,000本は検出できなかった．石綿小体は病変部を含まない，肺実質の末梢側に蓄積されやすいとされている．解剖時に摘出・保存した肺組織は中枢側の病変部周囲であったため，計測結果がより低値になった可能性が考えられた．我が国ではアスベスト関連肺疾患発症者や法医解剖体数が増加している．法医解剖時に原発性肺癌を認めた場合には，アスベストの健康被害申請が行われる可能性を考慮して，肺の適切な部位の採取・保存を周知する必要があると考える． We had a forensic autopsy case that required additive pathological examination for the asbestos-related lung disease compensatory application afterwards. A man in his sixties with a history of occupational asbestos inhalation who had neither visited a hospital nor received a physical examination received forensic autopsy because of his death from unknown cause. An inmate said, “He developed cough and dyspnea, and died in the progression of the symptoms.” The autopsy revealed widespread pleural plaques on both sides of the parietal pleura and multiple tumors in both sides of the lungs. The cause of death was diagnosed as lung cancer. Additional pathological examination was asked by his family to certify that he had suffered from asbestos-related lung disease in order to apply to the Asbestos-related Damage Relief Law. The Japanese criteria of the compensation law of asbestos-related lung cancer is the detection of more than 5,000 asbestos bodies per gram of dry lung tissue, while his number of asbestos bodies was 4,860. Asbestos bodies were reported to be accumulated in the distal lung parenchyma with no pathological changes. The present lung samples were collected from proximal section around the tumor, which might have made the number of asbestos bodies less than the criteria. Both the number of patients suffering from asbestosrelated lung disease and the number of forensic autopsy cases have increased in Japan. Collecting lung samples from the appropriate lung section is essential and should be noted when the lung cancer is suspected at forensic autopsy in order to apply for asbestos-related lung disease compensation.

1 はじめに : 日本において、アスベスト被害が深刻な社会問題になっている。すでに澤田(2014b)にて示したとおり、アスベスト起因の労働災害は2012年現在で1万659人に上る。これまで筆者は、アスベスト被害の拡大を被害者の量的拡大と地理的拡大という二つの意味でとらえ、拡大の要因を企業間・産業間の生産の分業を基礎とした取引関係の構造分析によって明らかにしてきた。しかし、なぜそもそもアスベストが長期にわたり使用されてきたのであろうか。……, In 1994, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers' Association (JAMA) moved to replace parts containing asbestos by using substitutes, under its own initiative. Meanwhile, however, the construction industry continued to work with materials and parts containing asbestos until they were banned under domestic regulations in 2004. This essay focuses on the asbestos substitution process in the construction industry and building material manufacturers, as well as in the automobile industry and automobile parts manufacturers, conducting a factor analysis of the different responses from the two sectors. The results demonstrate that while the automobile industry and automobile parts manufacturers restricted the usage of asbestos abroad as part of the process of expansion into foreign markets and actively sought to find replacements domestically as well, the majority of other industries were primarily concerned with economic performance and remained in line with domestic regulations, failing to search for replacements.