Delegate Minister for Overseas Territories Jean-François Carenco announced in Martinique on Saturday an acceleration in the use of blood tests for farm workers to measure their exposure to chlordecone, promising a generalization from February 6.
“This morning I was a bit nervous to make sure that blood tests (to measure the level of chlordecone in the blood, ed.) take place on all farms on February 6,” said the minister during a visit to a banana farm in Le Lamentin (Central Martinique).
6,000 and 7,000 farm workers are to be tested
The Martinique Regional Health Authority (ARS) announced on December 16th the launch of a free campaign to measure chlordecone directly on farms. These tests were possible before, but few farm workers used them because of the remoteness of the labs.
According to the ARS press release, this campaign should initially be carried out “in the first half of 2023” on 23 banana plantations owned by the Banamart cooperative, before being expanded “later” to other agricultural sectors.
According to the unions, between 6,000 and 7,000 farm workers are to be tested.
humiliation
Jean-François Carenco ends on Saturday a three-day trip to the island, which was decided after the dismissal pronounced by the French judiciary in early January in the scandal surrounding chlordecone, a pesticide used in the banana plantations of Martinique and Guadeloupe since the 1970s 1993 because of its Toxicity prohibited.
“I recognize the humiliation that people have endured for dragging this matter out for thirty or forty years,” the minister said Thursday night during a press conference after his meeting with Serge Letchimy, president of the Executive Council of the Territorial Collectivity of Martinique .
scandal without charge
On January 2, two investigating magistrates in Paris recognized a “health scandal” but ended without charge the judicial investigation into the poisoning of the population and the environment by this pesticide, which had been underway since 2008.
On Friday, around forty people gathered outside the Fort-de-France courthouse to denounce the decision.
Almost 90% of the population of Martinique and Guadeloupe are infected with chlordecone, according to a report published on December 6th by the French health authority (Anses).
The Inserm expert report “Pesticides and Health”, published in 2021, concluded with the strong assumption of an association between exposure to chlordecone in the general population and the risk of developing prostate cancer.