“A way to pool everyone’s efforts”, underlines Corinne Lepage

According to the former Minister of the Environment, the number of victims who have registered since the launch of the site confirms that “the problem is indisputable”.

“This platform [d’action collective des riverains victimes de pesticides] is a way of pooling everyone’s efforts, of having a lot of complaints”, believes lawyer Corinne Lepage, on France Bleu Berry on Tuesday May 21. The former Minister of the Environment launched collective action for local residents who live next to fields treated with phytosanitary products.

“In what we call the field of environmental health, there is a lot to do. We do not have in France the same system of group action that exists in the United States, so this platform is a means of pool everyone’s efforts, to have a lot of complaints, which makes everyone feel less ‘targeted’, if I may say so, on the outside, because we must realize that many of those who have joining the platform are people who are a little afraid to come forward as victims”explains Corinne Lepage.

A website is dedicated to collective action. A “minimum of 100 people” must participate for a petition to be formally filed in court. 10% of the plaintiffs gathered first, then more. Last week there was “around twenty” of complainants registered on the platform. Today, “the number has increased considerably since then, almost double.” Proof for Corinne Lepage that “the problem is indisputable.”

Today, rules already exist: it is prohibited in France to spray within five or ten meters of houses, but “it’s very weak”, believes Corinne Lepage.

“A study was done on a vineyard which shows that there is an excess of childhood leukemia up to one kilometer away.”

Corinne Lepage, lawyer

at France Bleu Berry

“Other studies show that up to 150 meters, you have roughly the same dose of pesticides as the place of spreading. Five or ten meters, that doesn’t protect anything at all”assures the lawyer.

The 2020 social security law made it possible to include three pathologies on the table of occupational diseases: non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Parkinson’s disease and prostate cancer. “For these three diseases, farmers do not have to prove a causal link between the use of pesticides and their illness, it is automatic. What we want is for local residents to be the same thingcontinues Corinne Lepage. We must move towards a relatively automatic system once it is proven that the person has been exposed on numerous occasions to the spreading of toxic products.” The lawyer specifies that it is not a question of doing “lawsuits against farmers”. “The lawsuit is directed against the State to obtain a system of compensation for local residents who are faced with a problem at least as important as that of professionals.”

For this collective action, the lawyer will represent three categories of people: “Initially, we focused on the three occupational illnesses, but we realized that other illnesses were affected”, especially in children. She then “made simple rules that were as non-debatable as possible”. “We put 150 meters of distancedescribes Corinne Lepage. Then, we planned three cases : those who have one of the three compensable illnesses, those who have an illness which is recognized as being very probably due to pesticides”, in the Ecophyto plan, there are six pathologies which are targeted” And “We added a slightly broader category for all those who suffer from anxiety disorders, that is to say people who are next to these fields and who are simply afraid.”