recognition of State responsibility “cannot be just symbolic” for the mayor of Pointe-à-Pitre

The National Assembly recognized Thursday “the responsibility” of the State in the chlordecone scandal in the West Indies.

While the deputies adopted, Thursday February 29, a bill recognizing the “responsibility” of the State in the scandal of the use of chlordecone in the West Indies, the environmentalist mayor of Pointe-à-Pitre and historical lawyer of the victims, Maître Harry Durimel estimates, Thursday on franceinfo, that the recognition “cannot be just symbolic”. The text must now be examined by the Senate. As a reminder, chlordecone is a toxic insecticide, used in banana plantations, causing many serious health and environmental problems, banned in 1993 but still used several years later in the West Indies.

“I think it’s progress, even if the goal is not achieved”, estimates the mayor of Pointe-à-Pitre. The gratitude “cannot be just symbolic”, he estimates, while the region has the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world. A symbolic recognition, “It only pleases politicians.”.

“We are waiting for the State to recognize its responsibility for having authorized by exception the extension of the use of chlordecone and for having insufficiently controlled circulation until recently”. The lawyer for the victims’ families insists: “the State has failed in its constitutional duty to ensure our health, and for that, it is responsible!”

The elected official requests a clean-up and compensation plan

Master Harry Durimel especially expects actions related to this recognition of responsibility, “there must be a global approach, on a territorial scale, a multi-year plan for decontamination and compensation”. He estimates that “even giving 20 to 30,000 euros to everyone will not repair the damage done to our regions which, in the eyes of tourists, appear like poisoned countries.”

The chlordecone scandal affects the region so much that the lawyer believes “that it even affects the patriotic bond”. “The state should not let us fight so much”evoking the decades of procedure to have the scandal recognized, “it’s systemic, we put money before health and we continue to play politics, when we should have a neutral entity that comes to judge and order the French state and tell them what to do to compensate the harm that has been done to us”.