An appeals court in Paris upheld Tuesday a ruling that found the French government guilty of wrongful negligence for using a banned pesticide in the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique.
About 1,300 people filed the lawsuit in 2020, seeking, among other things, 15,000 euros ($15,900) for each person who lived for at least 12 consecutive months in the two islands since 1972, claiming the exposure to Chlordecone, also known as Kepone. The pesticide was prohibited in the U.S. in 1976 and is blamed for slurred speech and other neurological problems.
