France's parliament has unanimously acknowledged the state's role in a pesticide scandal that contaminated most people in Guadeloupe and Martinique and has been linked to cancer and other health problems. The vote marks a significant moment in a decades-long fight over chlordecone, a toxic chemical that continued to be used in the French Caribbean after it was banned in mainland France.
The lower house of parliament voted in favour of a bill saying "the state acknowledges its share of responsibility for the health-related, moral, environmental and economic harm suffered" by Guadeloupe, Martinique and their populations.
The Senate had already approved the measure.
Chlordecone, also known as Kepone, was used in banana plantations on the two islands from 1972 to 1993 to combat weevils. France banned it on the mainland in 1990 but continued to allow its use in Guadeloupe and Martinique for another three years despite warnings about its dangers.
More than 90 percent of adults on the two islands have been contaminated, France's national public health agency Santé Publique France said.
France's health and food safety agency Anses has found a probable link between chlordecone exposure and prostate cancer, while studies have also found harmful effects on the nervous and hormonal systems and on reproduction.
Recognition and reparations
The new law sets France the goal of decontaminating land and water polluted by chlordecone and seeks to compensate victims of the contamination.
Scientific research is to become a national priority, while support is also planned for fishermen and farmers affected by the pollution. The legislation also calls for further work on illnesses affecting women and for a government mission to define future reparations.
"With this text, which recognises the suffering of our populations, Parliament has carried out an act of legislative justice," Elie Califer, the Socialist lawmaker from Guadeloupe who introduced the bill, said.
More work remains to be done, he added. "It will still be necessary to fight to obtain full compensation."
Califer has also called for a dedicated fund for victims.
Not everyone felt the legislation went far enough. Fellow Guadeloupe lawmaker Olivier Serva said he was "not entirely satisfied" with the outcome.
"But we've come far, given that the state initially didn't even want to acknowledge its partial responsibility," Serva said.
Martinique official Serge Letchimy also welcomed the vote.
It had come "to shatter a system that tramples on the truth, absolves the guilty and scorns the victims", he said.
Anxiety and courts
One point of disagreement during parliamentary debates concerned recognition of the anxiety felt by residents worried about developing chlordecone-related illnesses. Senators added the provision to the bill, but it was later removed at the government's request.
The Paris appeal court recognised that burden in March 2025, acknowledging the mental suffering of residents living with fears about possible health consequences.
The court is due to decide on 22 June whether to reopen a criminal investigation into the scandal after magistrates closed the case in 2023, saying too much time had passed to secure convictions.
Chlordecone was banned worldwide in 2009 under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
(with newswires)
