Sainte-Pazanne (France) (AFP)

"We kill our children!": After two hours of public meeting in a full house of 400 people, a man gets carried away. In Sainte-Pazanne (Loire-Atlantique), anger rises after the announcement of the end of local research on the series of pediatric cancers.

"Where is the support of the government today in the prevention of Mr? He is where? One kills our children!", Repeats this man with graying hair after listening to the authorities present the conclusions of research initiated at the beginning of the year in this rural area near Nantes.

"We did what we could," said Nicolas Durand, Deputy Director General of the regional health agency (ARS) Pays-de-la-Loire.

"We put considerable resources on these investigations, whether the epidemiological survey by Public Health France (SpF) or environmental investigations," he insisted.

"We recognize that we have not answered the main question, which is: why?", He concludes.

This question, Marie Thibaud began to ask in 2016 in the corridors of the University Hospital of Nantes where she accompanied his son Alban who contracted a cancer soon after entering kindergarten.

Why did so many children from Sainte-Pazanne and surrounding communities fall ill within months of each other? Why are there several cases of cancer in the same school?

She asked the authorities and said that a first epidemiological study did not identify a cause common to all cases of cancer. Then Alban "went into remission and that day one of his classmates declared cancer," she recalls.

"He told me + mom, they need to start the research again, they will not all get sick my boyfriends +."

- Between 13 and 20 cases -

She then decided to create with other parents the collective "Stop cancer of our children". This group counts 20 cases of pediatric cancers since 2015, including four deaths.

The ARS and SpF applied slightly different criteria in relation to the age of the children and the spatio-temporal scope. The ARS thus detains 17 cases, including 3 deaths and SpF studied 13 cases, including 3 deaths.

In Sainte-Pazanne and six surrounding villages, there were approximately twice as many pediatric cancers than what is observed on average in France, according to the findings of SpF presented in early November. However, no common cause has been identified and it was decided not to pursue the investigations locally.

It is this stalemate that has revolted many people present at the public meeting held Monday night.

"I know there are people who prefer not to know (...) Me my house if she lost 10,000 euros, I have nothing to do, I just want my kid, he does not catch a cancer and that I can look it in the eyes ", moved Johann Pailloux, father of pupils schooled in Sainte-Pazanne, announcing at the end of the evening that the collective would continue the researches with the help of a kitty .

- Ernest, Chloe, Maïwen -

Ernest, Chloé, Maïwen: the broken voice or brandishing a picture, several parents cited the name of their sick or dead child and told their story through questions and answers.

Participants also insulted the seven officials present on the platform asking them to assert that there were no conflicts of interest between their work and powerful industrialists.

Would they be ready to live in Sainte-Pazanne with their children? Yes, they replied, pounding for more than three hours that "there is no danger" from the data.

Leaving the room with their newborn baby in a landau, Violaine and Christophe were not reassured.

A follow-up committee meeting is scheduled for March 2020.

© 2019 AFP