“It’s the perfect crime,” denounces the lawyer of Laure Marivain, a florist whose daughter died of leukemia caused by pesticides on flowers

On franceinfo, François Lafforgue recalls that a Belgian study revealed the presence of “more than a hundred pesticide residue products on bouquets of flowers and on the hands of florists, and 70 pesticide residues in their urine”, including molecules sometimes banned, used in foreign countries.

Emmy Marivain died in March 2022, at the age of 11, of leukemia linked to pesticides present on the flowers that her mother, a florist near Nantes, unknowingly handled during her pregnancy. “Unfortunately, it’s the perfect crime“, denounces his lawyer, Maître François Lafforgue on franceinfo, Wednesday October 9, after the revelations of franceinfo.

Since many different pesticides are involved, “it is difficult to identify the product causing the pathology, and therefore difficult to attack a particular manufacturer“, he explains. According to the lawyer, he is “absolutely impossible to consider action against this or that manufacturer, it would be doomed to failure“Faced with this legal impasse, the lawyer criticizes: “It is absolutely essential that we tackle the problem, that we truly legislate and that we alert florists and companies in the flower market of this problem.“.

François Lafforgue recalls that a Belgian study revealed the presence of “more than a hundred pesticide residues on bouquets of flowers and on the hands of florists, and 70 pesticide residues in their urine“, including molecules that are sometimes banned and used in foreign countries.

For two years, Emmy’s family has been fighting to warn of the dangers to which these professionals and their children are exposed, a promise that Laure made to her daughter on her deathbed. Maître François Lafforgue insists on the implementation of additional measures to protect professionals and their families, and the need to identify potential victims, with for example the creation of a “national register to assess the impact of the use of pesticides by professionals on their children“.”It is important today to have better knowledge of the extent of the phenomenon“, he insists.

For now, the victim’s family is before the Rennes Court of Appeal this Wednesday to try to obtain compensation.commensurate with the immense harm suffered by Emmy during her lifetime“, explains the lawyer. Laure Marivain contests the compensation proposal from the investment fund, which “considers that the little girl’s damage cannot be compensated“, reports his lawyer. “It is national solidarity that must play, but in this case, national solidarity, the compensation fund, does not play its role, which is why we are before the Court of Appeal today“, he concludes.