At the heart of an extremely sensitive file for years in the West Indies, the measure is intended to facilitate the compensation of the victims exposed to this ultra-toxic pesticide.
Le Monde
Prostate cancers related to chlorcone exposure, a pesticide widely used for decades in the West Indies, are now recognized as an occupational disease, according to a published decree, Wednesday, December 22, in the Official Journal.
Chlordecone has been authorized between 1972 and 1993 in the banana weather of the West Indies and infiltrated soils for hundreds of years, polluting waters and agricultural productions, while its toxicity and persistent power in the environment were known since The 1960s.
The measure, intended to facilitate the compensation of the victims, is part of a series of actions carried out by the State in this case extremely sensitive for years in the Antilles and qualified as “environmental scandal” by President Emmanuel Macron. In July 2020, anti-chlorcone demonstrations had turned to the riot in Fort-de-France two nights, giving rise to arrests.
“The term” pesticides “relates to agricultural-use products and products intended for maintenance of green spaces (phytosanitary products or plant protection products) as well as biocides and veterinary pest controls, whether authorized or No at the time of the application “, according to the decree. The work usually exposing to pesticides are carried out “during the manipulation or use of these products, by contact or by inhalation”, “, by contact with crops, surfaces, animals treated or when servicing machines intended for machines. to the application of pesticides “, specifies the text.
More than 90% of adults contaminated with Guadeloupe and Martinique
The decree published Wednesday was announced in the fall by the Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie. It opens the farmers concerned a fund created in 2020 and intended to compensate people with pesticide-related diseases.
In detail, all farmers or agricultural employees may request this status under two conditions: that they have worked for at least ten years in contact with Chlordecone, and that less than forty years have elapsed between their last exhibition and The diagnosis of prostate cancer. These are the “generally accepted durations for this type of cancer,” had explained recently the Ministry of Agriculture. The persons exposed less than ten years will be able to apply at the level of a regional commission, “he said.
The government refrained from estimating how many people may be concerned by these compensation. He did not advance either on the total amount. “It will depend on the number of files that will be deposited,” said the department, stating that the decree also allowed to compensate the children exposed during a pregnancy.
“You can not prejudge upstream of the number of victims,” he insisted, indicating that at the individual level, the compensation would represent between 1,000 and 19,000 euros per year for an agricultural operator. More than 90% of the adult population in Guadeloupe and Martinique is currently contaminated by Chlordecone, according to Public Health France.