The bed of the Orbiel, just after the floods of October 2018. -

F. Scheiber - Sipa

  • Since the floods of October 2018, the problem of pollution of the Orbiel valley with arsenic, from waste from a former gold mine, has resurfaced.

  • One hundred and two residents have entrusted their hair to an independent laboratory.

  • In addition to arsenic, toxicological analyzes reveal worrying levels of heavy metals such as mercury and lead.

Overexposed to lead, copper, cadmium ... The deadly floods which ravaged the Orbiel valley, in Aude, two years ago, would not only have carried arsenic residues from the old complex mine of Salsigne, they would also have diffused in the ground, water and sediments a whole toxic cocktail of heavy metals.

This is what is revealed by three associations - Gratte-Papiers, Terre d'Orbiel and the Cabardès team of Secours Catholique -, which have just made public the results of an unprecedented campaign of analyzes.

Between July and September, 102 people (32 women, 35 men and 35 children) residing in thirteen villages in the Orbiel valley (Conques-sur-Orbiel, Lastours, Limousis, Salsigne, Trèbes, Villardonnel, etc.) volunteers for Toxseek, an independent toxicological analysis laboratory, to examine three centimeters of their hair in order to identify their exposure (during the last three months) to 49 pollutants.

Pollutants "to be eliminated" from the inhabitants' environment

Until now, the public authorities had mainly confined themselves to communicating on exposure to arsenic.

However, this analysis campaign shows that it is not the predominant pollutant in organisms.

It even comes in fourth position, far behind Mercury, followed by lead and silver.

The latter is, moreover, the element which is most frequently encountered, and also the one to which exposure is the most worrying.

“Indeed, 100% of people tested have one or more toxic elements“ To watch out for ”or“ At risk ”other than arsenic.

And 62% of analyzes reveal at least one “At risk” level of exposure.

This means that we are facing a multiple exposure, ”explains François Espuche, president of Gratte-Papiers.

And for some inhabitants, the toxicity thresholds explode: 38 times more iron in the body than normal, three times more manganese, nickel… "If the pollutant is at the“ At risk ”exposure level, we consider that the exposure is important and that it is necessary to seek the sources to eliminate this pollutant from your environment ”, warns the laboratory…

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Aude: Children and pregnant women living near sites polluted with arsenic now detected

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Floods in the Aude: One year later, the arsenic file continues to poison the lives of residents

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