VIDEO. Chlordecone scandal: Martinicans in the street to "resume the fight"

It had been years since they had been so numerous in the streets.

Between 5,000 and 15,000 people marched through the streets of Fort-de-France on Saturday to denounce the use of chlordecone in the West Indies.

Banned in 1993, this insecticide used to fight against the banana weevil has contaminated nearly 90% of the current adult population, according to figures from Public Health France.

"We are all poisoned to astronomical levels," said one protester.

So I think it's important to protest today.

Especially since justice seems to say that there is a statute of limitations on a crime, so this is unacceptable ”.

Several associations had taken legal action in 2006, but the examining magistrates have just announced that there could be prescription.

An announcement that breathed new life into the fight: "There is no question of there being a statute of limitations for the chain of crimes that has been committed against us, against nature and against the humans of this country," launches Philippe Pierre Charles, organizer of the event.

It is not possible that the State which bears a large part of the responsibility does not take the measures for a real repair of the damage which has been caused ”.

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Health scandal: more than nine in ten West Indians contaminated with chlordecone

Always present in soils since its ban, chlordecone can persist for nearly 600 years.

It is in particular suspected of being the cause of the large number of prostate cancers recorded in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Visiting Martinique in 2018, Emmanuel Macron spoke of the State's share of responsibility for this health scandal: "We continued to use chlordecone (...), because the State and local elected officials accepted this situation," not to say accompanied it, considering that stopping chlordecone was to threaten part of the farms, ”he declared.