Pregnant women and children in the Franc-Moisin HLM district were invited to carry out blood tests
Franc-Moisin district in Saint-Denis – © SIPA
Pregnant women and children in the Franc-Moisin district of Saint-Denis were invited at the beginning of December by the regional health agency (ARS) to take blood tests in order to detect possible traces of lead in their body. . An approach which follows extensive tests carried out in September in the Descartes and Rodin-Renoir schools, which revealed higher than expected lead concentrations. Additional analyzes were carried out on the surface layers of soil in the children’s play areas.
The city is committed to facilitating screening procedures, while emphasizing that this situation does not concern all residents, nor widespread contamination of the air.
The results published by the ARS on November 29 proved reassuring for educational establishments, where the rates do not exceed the critical thresholds requiring rapid intervention. But in the floors of a playground, the lead levels detected exceeded the thresholds and the ARS closed the area.
-Residents demand more transparency
Lead ingestion can cause lead poisoning, a disorder that causes problems with language, behavior, learning, growth, or motor skills. To reassure and support families, the city is committed to facilitating screening procedures, while emphasizing that this situation does not concern all residents nor widespread air contamination.
“We are concerned about the results of these analyses. We are asking for transparency towards residents,” said the “Habitants Franc-Moisin” collective, which brings together many tenants of this large HLM complex in Saint-Denis, in the midst of urban renovation, with the demolition of a bar of housing.
B. C.
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