In the 1980s, France allowed the use of chlordecone, which had already been banned in the U.S. The insecticide was intensively used on the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.
The region holds the record for the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world. France has budgeted 1.4 billion euros to clean a single river, the Seine, on the occasion of the Olympic Games, in 2022. The French Parliament will debate France's responsibility in the scandal on February 29.