Near Le Havre, benzene from the industrial zone pollutes the air of schools

Pollution alert. In Gonfreville-l’Orcher (Seine-Maritime), children are exposed to worrying levels of benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pollutants produced in particular by the petrochemical industry, which is very present in this town near the port of Haven. This is what revealed, Tuesday, April 5, the program “Vert de rage” of France 5, produced by the journalist Martin Boudot, measurements of air quality and numerous samples in support.

This small town on the banks of the Seine has nine Seveso-classified companies and factories. Due to the hazardous materials they are required to handle, they present major accident risks. In particular, there is the Total refining platform, the largest in France and the country’s leading benzene emitter in 2020, according to data analyzed by the program. This pollutant, a volatile organic compound naturally present in crude oil, is a known carcinogen for humans.

However, the first dwellings are located less than a kilometer from the industrial zone and several inhabitants are worried about this pollution. To measure it, “Vert de rage” teamed up with Valérie Gros, director of the Laboratory of Climate and Environmental Sciences, to take air samples near the plant and several schools in the common. Several measurements were performed at the same location to confirm the results. The limit value for the protection of human health (5 μg/m3 as an annual average) is occasionally exceeded in three places: near the factory (39 μg/m3) and in front of two schools (48.5 μg/m3 and 13.9 μg/m3).

Worrying peaks that are not displayed by the three local measuring stations of the Atmo Normandie network, an air quality monitoring association. These stations, which do not all continuously measure benzene, only display more reassuring averages. And no station is in the immediate vicinity of the industrial zone, one of the most important sources of pollution in the city.

For Valerie Gros, “Gonfreville-l’Orcher is a ‘hotspot’ for benzene pollution, even if the results of the ‘Vert de rage’ team show the presence of other problematic pollutants. More on-site measurement campaigns are needed to better map exposure to this pollutant”.

Urine analyzes of 23 children were also carried out in the laboratory of the public hospital in Liège (Belgium). These children are educated in the municipality and live near the industrial platform. Naphthol-2, the marker for naphthalene, a derivative of tar, coal or oil, suspected of being carcinogenic, was found in large quantities: the median concentration is 67% higher than those of German children. In the absence of a study conducted in France, it was not possible to make a comparison with the rest of the country.

Finally, soil samples were taken by an independent laboratory and certified in a working garden crossed by an oil pipeline. The concentration in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a group of compounds containing many carcinogenic and mutagenic pollutants, is very high there (five times the natural concentration threshold), even astronomical (112 times) for the part affected by a leak a few months ago, but which is supposed to have been cleaned. Contacted by Martin Boudot, Total had still not responded at the time of publication of this article. The complete investigation of “Vert de rage” will be broadcast in September on France 5.