when the ex-minister criticized asbestos removal in this great university in Paris

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From the greatest scientific awards to the ostracism of one's own community. Died at the age of 87, the former Minister of National Education and Research Lionel JospinClaude Allègre, born in Paris, was for a long time one of the socialist leaders before joining Nicolas Sarkozy at the end of the 2000s. A journey which testifies as much to his political reversals as to a constant propensity to declaim controversial positions, particularly on the environmental.

The geochemist, former director of the prestigious Paris Physical Institute of the Globe (IPGP) and awarded the CNRS gold medalhad notably triggered the wrath of the scientific community for openly denouncing the asbestos removal plan for the Jussieu campus, in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, shortly after his appointment to a ministerial cabinet in the 1990s.

Since the 1970s, this Parisian university has been at the forefront of fight against asbestos poisoning having been used in the construction of its buildings. With in particular the presence of the Jussieu Anti-Asbestos Committee, made up of academics documenting this health scandal.

In October 1996, the government announced a plan to remove asbestos from the 220,000 square meters of the campus, as reported at the time The World. A decision criticized by Claude Allègre, then special advisor to Lionel Jospin. In an article published in the magazine The Pointhe castigated “the irrational and dangerous psychosis” of those who are fighting to remove this material from buildings.

Faced with this diatribe, the president of Jussieu Anti-Asbestos CommitteeMichel Parigot, mathematician, and the president of the association for the study of risks at work, Henri Pezerat, were moved by Claude Allègre's “contempt for public health”, while asking that he not be responsible for the asbestos removal plan.

According to the National Institute for Research and Safety (INRS), asbestos is responsible for 3,000 to 4,000 illnesses per year. It is the second cause of occupational pathologies.

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