Brice Blondel, prefect of Charente-Maritime, has just requested the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP) following the “citizen project” led by the Avenir Santé Environnement association. Presented in mid-October, these analyzes carried out on 72 children living in the Aunis plain revealed the presence of sometimes banned pesticides in their hair and urine.
“These elements constitute a reason for concern,” assures the prefecture which brought together this Monday, November 4, the elected representatives of the Rochelle agglomeration, several parliamentarians, the League against cancer as well as Santé Publique France and the Regional Health Agency ( ARS). “The studies currently available do not allow us to rule out or infer a causal link between exposure to these molecules and the cases of pediatric cancer observed in recent years in the Aunis plain,” specify the state services.
The participants in this “working time” thus agreed “on the need to deepen the field of research currently carried out: epidemiology of cancer cases, impact of chemical pollutants on health”. To carry out this mission, prefect Brice Blondel intends to rely on the CNDP. This public and independent authority notably led the debate in the department on the future offshore wind farm off the island of Oléron. The State expects the CNDP “to propose a framework that is both neutral and impartial, based on a scientific approach and full transparency,” specifies its representative in Charente-Maritime.
No additional information was provided regarding the organization of this public exercise, its scope and its potential participants. “It’s going in the right direction, we will be happy to participate. But we will remain vigilant as to the choice of the guarantors of this debate and the questions asked in this context”, warns Franck Rinchet-Girollet, the president of the Avenir Santé Environnement association who would above all like to look at “the regulatory framework” allowing the use of synthetic pesticides. “Does this framework really protect populations? This is the right question to ask during this debate,” he underlines, already fearing the backlash.
Franck Rinchet-Girollet nevertheless notes at this stage a reason for satisfaction: “This is the first time that a prefect has taken up this question and that he has invited everyone to sit around a table. This initiative never took place despite our warnings.”
In recent years, several air and water pollution incidents have shaken the Aunis plain, which has been hit by cases of unexplained pediatric cancer. Citizen and association mobilization has led the La Rochelle area to take up the subject. In 2023, mediation on pesticides allowed an initial discussion between residents and farmers. Above all, she noted their disagreements. It remains to be seen what the CNDP can really contribute to the debate regarding “the presence of several chemical pollutants” in the bodies of children, and more broadly the inhabitants of the department.
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