GUADELOUPE VACCINE HESITANCY DIRECTLY LINKED TO BANANA CROP PESTICIDE POISONINGS, SCHOLAR SAYS

BASSE-TERRE — Since July 2021, various trade union organizations have been calling for the cancellation of the vaccination obligation and the reinstatement of suspended non-vaccinated employees. The movement hardened on November 15, leading to roadblocks thus paralyzing the Guadeloupe archipelago, a French overseas department.

Through this vaccination obligation which does not pass, it is the ills of a Guadeloupean society which resurface: precariousness, high cost of living, massive unemployment, youth without prospects, drinking water crisis, environmental scandal, identity crisis, etc. The malaise is not new: since the vote of the law of March 19, 1946 called “departmentalization law”, allowing the transition from colony to overseas department, Guadeloupe is subject to various disputes ranging from political to the social, including the economy and even culture.

The general strike of 2009 brought to light the economic problems inherent in Guadeloupe. Pricing is 33 percent higher than the national [French] average. A small number of actors in important fields such as fuel, agrifood or even in mass distribution, often békés, descendants of slavers, dominate the economy. The “expensive life” is explained by several factors, including insularity, remoteness, local taxation and the existence of a customs tax applied to all products imported into overseas regions, including Guadeloupe, but also Martinique.

This uncompetitive market has an impact on the purchasing power of consumers.

THE CHLORDECONE SCANDAL

The current distrust of the population towards vaccination can be explained by a distrust towards the elites, and this, in particular following the so-called “chlordecone scandal”.

The French government allowed the spreading in Guadeloupe and Martinique of this pesticide used in the fields of banana plantations to fight against the weevil until 1993. However, the ban on its use on French soil was pronounced in 1990. The WHO classified it in 1979 as a “possible carcinogen” while the United States banned it in 1976.

Very resistant, the chlordecone molecule poisons the soil for 700 years after it is spread. Its massive use is also spreading in rivers, or on the sea coast where certain areas are prohibited to fishing.

In 2018, a study by the French national public health agency showed that “92% of Martiniquans and 95 percent of Guadeloupeans are contaminated by this pesticide.” The effects are devastating: “risks of prematurity, cognitive and motor development disorders in infants.”

There is also a correlation with prostate cancer, of which the French West Indies hold the sad world record. Although the latter was recognized at the end of 2021 as an occupational disease, the civil parties and victims demand recognition of the State’s responsibility in this environmental and health scandal.