High snow-capped peaks, pine trees, fresh water lakes with turquoise reflections ... A heavenly place which is nevertheless one of the most polluted places in France.
The 155,000 inhabitants of the Arve valley inspire a high rate of nitrogen dioxide, fine particles and heavy metals produced in particular by factories and heavy road traffic.
For about ten years, this Haute-Savoie valley has been under close surveillance.
At the start of 2017, residents of the towns of Sallanches, Chamonix, Passy and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, suffocated for 35 consecutive days with pollution above European limit values.
An ordinary episode for these Savoyards who are running out of steam and fear an increase in serious illnesses, cancer and heart problems.
Read also: Arve valley: exceptional pollution peak
In ten years, nearly 600 families have lodged a complaint against X for "
endangering the life of others
" and "
failure to provide assistance to people in danger
".
On November 10, the State's responsibility was recognized before the Grenoble court without compensating the victims.
It is in this context that the Coll-Air Pur collective, which brings together around a hundred people, is carrying out more studies to scientifically prove the repercussions of this air pollution.
The latest, published on January 13, points to the presence of heavy metals in children's hair.
In their sights: the incinerator, the main means of waste management in the valley, the SGL Carbon plant, located in the town of Cheddes and producing graphite and the 30,718 daily passengers of the A40, of which more than 5,000 only for the Mont-Blanc tunnel.
Read also: Air pollution: the state against the wall
Cough, sleep disturbances and skin symptoms
Mercury, radium, lead, tin: the finding is clear.
Carried out on 76 children and 6 adults, the study reveals the presence of several heavy metals in the three millimeters of scalp collected.
Chemical components singled out by the WHO as a “
major risk to public health
”.
After having measured the level of heavy metals in the soil, eggs and mushrooms in the region, the collective took an interest in hair to "
show the direct consequences on human health
", tells
Le Figaro
, Murielle Auprince, their spokesperson.
"
And it is worrying,
" she argues, pointing to the results of the study, conducted from September 16 to October 17 with the toxSeek laboratory.
Nine of the profiles tested are considered “
at risk
” because their level of heavy metals is “
two to three times higher than a control population
”.
Read also: The air of the Alps polluted with heavy metals in the Bronze Age
Cindy is one of the children whose hair was removed.
These disturbing results echo a succession of symptoms that the teenager has suffered since she was little.
"
She often has breathing problems
", "
itchy eyes
" or "
itchy
throat
", reports her mother, living in Cheddes "
between two factories
".
With her husband, she worries about the high number of cancers in their neighborhood.
“
There are two breast cancers and one lung cancer
,” she adds worriedly.
It's terrible to get there, to live in front of such a beautiful landscape without breathing the pure mountain air ”
.
Cindy's case is not isolated.
According to the collective's survey, 62% of people "
with light or significant contamination with rare earths
" have developed dermatological symptoms and 37% of this same population has trouble sleeping, concentrating or severe fatigue.
Pathologies observed by Doctor Mallory Guyon, member of the collective and general practitioner in Les Houches.
Eczema, redness, itching in the eyes, many locals suffer from it.
But that's not all.
"
I see more respiratory diseases, asthmatic symptoms, ear infections, laryngitis, bronchiolitis for babies,
" she reveals.
For the general practitioner, it is obvious that the pollution deteriorates the health of the inhabitants, in particular since the death of Emilie Spreafico of several cancers of the brain.
From the valley of death to the model city
Last June, the little blonde girl with curly hair passed away at the age of twelve.
Seven years earlier, in March 2013, doctors diagnosed him with a first tumor.
From operations to operations, from treatment to treatment, urgently hospitalized in Lyon, nothing helped.
For her father Daniel, pollution is responsible for the death of his daughter.
Angry, he remembers the nickname given to the valley by oncologists in Lyon: “
the valley of death
”.
These words echo the grief of the father who is not recovering from the death of his daughter.
He “
blames the state
for
doing nothing
” to prevent residents from breathing “
deadly
”
air
.
A danger on which Professor Frédérique Champly, head of emergencies in Sallanches, had already alerted in 2017. The same year, Public Health France had shown that 85 people died every year in the valley because of pollution against 48,000 in the territory national.
Figures that angered hundreds of residents who came down to demonstrate in spring 2017 to ask the government for more resources.
Since then, money has been given to companies in particular to reduce their release of fine particles and the plan for the protection of the atmosphere (PPA) has been strengthened.
But these measures remain insufficient for associations.
"
Our valley is a place where life is bad
," regrets Professor Frédérique Champly.
In a video posted on social networks, he asks to “
fight against excessive transport
”, by strengthening rail traffic, to “
close very polluting industries such as the incinerator
” or even “
the factory that manufactures graphite for nuclear factories
”.
An accusation that the SGL Carbon factory refutes by objecting to its
"excellent results for the year 2019"
.
The installation of new flue gas treatment systems made it possible to reduce "
dust emissions by 80% between 2017 and 2019, from 6.9 to 1.38 tonnes
" as well as "
nitrogen dioxide molecules from 17 %
”.
Good results also highlighted by Éric Fournier, mayor of Chamonix and vice-president of ATMO Mont-Blanc, responsible for monitoring air quality for the region.
Pollution "
taken head-on
", which "has
dropped considerably in twenty years
" with "
a 50% reduction in the Chamonix valley of the two main pollutants, nitrogen dioxide and PM10
".
The PM10 rate recorded in 2019 in the Arve valley.
Review of the ATMO Mont-Blanc - December 2020
The rate of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) recorded in 2019 in the Arve valley.
Review of the ATMO Mont-Blanc - December 2020
However, the results are less convincing for PM2.5, the smallest fine particles that slip more discreetly into the human body.
A presence "
even more problematic
" for Doctor Mallory Guyon who warns of their "
greatest danger
", especially in terms of cancer, stroke.
The PM2.5 rate recorded in 2019 in the Arve valley.
Review of the ATMO Mont-Blanc - December 2020
"
In 2020, the threshold was exceeded 10 days in the Arve valley",
recognizes the mayor of Chamonix, but some towns like Passy "are
starting from further
", he tempers with the
Figaro
.
Today, the local elected representative wants to look to the future and make his valley “
a model valley
”.
It is therefore committed to helping households to abandon wood heating for gas, to close one or more incinerators in the coming years.
These initiatives are accompanied by further research on the role played by trucks, individual heating and industries.
For Éric Fournier, it is not easy to shape a region which has lived like this for over a hundred years, resulting in historic soil pollution and economic balance.
Proposals that do not quite satisfy the collective, which calls for taking more important measures to make the Arve valley, "
a
model
" for other regions in France and in the world, a territory not "
synonymous with death but with life ”
.
