Marine pollution. Banana crops in Guadeloupe and Martinique

 

Two Caribbean islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique are facing a threat to people’s livelihood and public health due to a chemical once used on banana crops.

Chlordecone, also known as Kepone, was used to combat banana weevil from 1972 to 1993 before being banned by French authorities. Decades later, it continues to contaminate the islands' soil and water as it is estimated that chlordecone stays in the soil for 700 years. The chemical used predominantly on soil was gradually washed down by the rivers spreading the contamination to sea. Consequently, fishing on the islands had to be stopped and freshwater prawn farms closed. The crabs caught in the mangrove swamps are no longer safe for human consumption.

The contamination had a huge impact on many living on those islands, especially poor families whose livelihood relies on fishing. Furthermore, the medical study carried in 2012 on 1,000 women and their children who were exposed to chlordecone during pregnancies, revealed psycho-motor impairment, reduced visual interest in new things and problems with visual memory. Chlordecone is also associated with a higher risk of prostate cancer and data showed that people from Guadeloupe and Martinique have the highest rates of prostate cancer in the world.

According to the French government more than 90% of adults were exposed to chlordecone on both islands, whose combined populations total some 750,000 inhabitants.