Martinique deputy Serge Letchimy.

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DOMINIQUE FAGET / AFP

The fourth chlordecone plan, intended to fight against the consequences of the long-term pollution of this insecticide in the West Indies, has started its final stretch with a public consultation in Martinique and Guadeloupe, before its official presentation in early 2021. Highly sensitive issue in the West Indies, soil pollution by this insecticide considered as endocrine disruptor and probable carcinogen, was judged by Emmanuel Macron himself as an "environmental scandal".

The Chlordecone IV Plan, which will cover the period 2021-2027, made following the report of a parliamentary commission of inquiry, which in November 2019, concluded that the State was "primarily responsible" for this pollution.

The insecticide was authorized between 1972 and 1993 in the banana plantations of the Antilles and infiltrated the soils for hundreds of years, polluting water and agricultural products, while its toxicity and its persistent power in the environment had been known for years. 1960.

90% of the adult population is infected

More than 90% of the adult population in Guadeloupe and Martinique is contaminated by chlordecone, according to Public Health France, and the West Indian populations have one of the highest incidence rate of prostate cancer in the world.

The new plan provides, for example, to continue monitoring foodstuffs placed on the market, to develop a free analysis service for farmers and breeders for soil, water and fodder or to conduct scientific studies on cancers. related to chlordecone.

The plan also provides for tests of the level of chlordecone in the blood for the most vulnerable populations (consumers of fruit and vegetables or fish, pregnant women), to launch a new study in 2021 on the impregnation of the West Indian population, and to new analyzes of tap water, or to create a French Antilles Guyane consultation center for occupational and environmental pathologies.

" Not serious "

“Small cumulative actions to try to 'Live with' chlordecone, when it would be necessary to enter an era of mutation, repair, compensation.

We must get out of chlordecone with a massive depollution ”, regrets Serge Letchimy (related deputy PS from Martinique), for whom the budget devoted to this plan is“ not serious ”.

This new plan also includes a recent decree on the new compensation fund for victims of occupational diseases linked to pesticides.

It now makes it possible to compensate farmers poisoned by chlordecone, as well as children exposed during the prenatal period. 

The subject is still topical: legal proceedings for "endangering the lives of others" have been underway for years within the Health Center of the TGI in Paris, and last May, 500 inhabitants of the West Indies exposed with chlordecone seized the administrative court of Paris to see recognized prejudice of anxiety.

And in Martinique, the subject is at the heart of many identity tensions, with part of the population accusing large local families (beké) of being the source of pollution.

Justice

Associations demand the opening of a new investigation in the West Indies on chlordecone pollution

Society

What can we expect from the commission of inquiry into chlordecone pollution?

  • Guadeloupe

  • Pollution

  • Chlordecone scandal

  • Health

  • Martinique