This is a first breakthrough for the victims of chlordecone.
The administrative court of Paris recognized on Monday "wrongful negligence" of the State in the management of the use of this pesticide banned in France in 1990 but which continued to be authorized in the banana fields of Martinique and Guadeloupe. by ministerial derogation until 1993, causing significant and lasting pollution of the two islands.
"State services have committed culpable negligence by allowing the sale of the same antiparasitic specialty containing 5% chlordecone", under various names, and "by authorizing the continuation of sales beyond the legally provided deadlines in the event of of withdrawal of approval ", according to this decision rendered on Friday.
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 rates of prostate cancer in the world.
These prostate cancers linked to exposure to chlordecone were recognized as an occupational disease in December, paving the way for compensation for farmers and agricultural workers.
The 1,240 claimants seek recognition of the anxiety prejudice
However, the administrative court considered "that with the exception of their presence in Martinique or Guadeloupe for at least twelve months since 1973, the applicants do not report any personal and detailed element allowing to justify the prejudice of anxiety which they claim".
Consequently, "the claims for compensation presented by the applicants must be rejected", indicates the judgment.
In addition, according to the administrative court, "the applicants are not justified in maintaining that the State would have delayed in the implementation of measures to protect the populations or that the information disseminated would have been contradictory", adds the administrative court.
For Me Christophe Lèguevaques, who intends to appeal on behalf of the 1,240 claimants he represents to obtain recognition of the prejudice of anxiety, this decision is however a “decisive step forward”.
Read alsoChlordecone in the West Indies: why this health scandal risks being dismissed
“This can be used in the criminal case of chlordecone.
Whereas until now, we had in front of us manufacturers or distributors of this product who said:
I only distributed an authorized product, so you can't do anything against me
, there, we have a court which tells us that the authorizations of the 1970s were illegal and therefore are likely to involve the responsibility of the State, but also can call into question the responsibility of the distributors”, explains the lawyer.
A possible prescription for public action which worries
Another procedure is underway concerning the use of chlordecone in the West Indies, after a complaint for poisoning filed sixteen years ago.
However, the two investigating judges of the public health center of the Paris court announced on March 25 to the complaining communities and associations their intention to close this file without issuing an indictment, thus directing it towards a possible dismissal. .
The possible prescription of public action had already aroused indignation and anger in the West Indies, including a demonstration which brought together several thousand Martiniquais in the streets of Fort-de-France at the end of February 2021. In addition, the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR) declared at the end of January inadmissible the complaints filed by the Medical Association for the Protection of the Environment and Health (Amses) and the Guadeloupe Association for Action against Chlordecone (Agac), affiliated to the UGTG union, against former ministers on the issue of the use of chlordecone in the West Indies.
