The Minister Delegate for Overseas Territories Jean-François Carenco announced on Saturday in Martinique an acceleration of the deployment of blood screening for agricultural workers to measure their exposure to chlordecone, promising generalization from February 6.
“This morning I got a little nervous to make sure that on February 6, blood tests (to measure the level of chlordecone in the blood, editor’s note) would take place on all farms”, declared the minister during a visit to a banana farm in Le Lamentin (central Martinique).
6,000 and 7,000 farm workers expected to be tested
The Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Martinique announced on December 16 the launch of a free campaign to measure chlordecone directly on farms. These tests were already possible before but few agricultural workers used them because of the remoteness of the laboratories.
This campaign initially planned to be deployed “during the first half of 2023” in 23 banana farms of the Banamart cooperative, before extending “later” to other agricultural sectors, according to the ARS press release.
According to the unions, between 6,000 and 7,000 agricultural workers should be tested.
Humiliation
Jean-François Carenco ends Saturday a trip of three days on the island, decided after the dismissal pronounced at the beginning of January by the French justice in the scandal of chlordecone, a pesticide used since the 1970s in the banana plantations of Martinique and Guadeloupe and banned in 1993 due to its toxicity.
“I recognize the humiliation that people have been subjected to by dragging out this affair for thirty or forty years”, declared the minister Thursday evening, during a press conference after his meeting with Serge Letchimy, president of the executive council of the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique.
Scandal without prosecution
On January 2, two Parisian investigating judges recognized a “health scandal” but put an end, without prosecution, to the judicial investigation opened since 2008 on the poisoning of the population and the environment caused by this pesticide.
On Friday, a demonstration gathered around forty people in front of the Fort-de-France courthouse to denounce this decision.
According to a report published on December 6 by the French Health Security Agency (Anses), nearly 90% of the populations of Martinique and Guadeloupe are contaminated with chlordecone.
The Inserm “pesticides and health” expert report published in 2021 concluded with the strong presumption of a link between exposure to chlordecone in the general population and the risk of occurrence of prostate cancer.