Paris court rejects bid to reopen probe into Caribbean chlordecone contamination

The Paris appeals court has upheld a decision not to reopen a criminal investigation into the use of chlordecone, a toxic pesticide that has been linked to cancer and other health problems in around 90 percent of the adult population in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Issued on: 22/06/2026 - 16:39

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After 20 years of legal proceedings, the court confirmed the dismissal of the case, effectively closing the door to any future criminal investigations.

Christophe Lèguevaques, a lawyer representing the civil parties called the ruling a "dark day for justice".

Chlordecone, also known as Kepone, was used on banana plantations to combat weevils in the two French Caribbean islands from 1972 to 1993. France banned the pesticide on the mainland in 1990 but continued to allow its use in Guadeloupe and Martinique for three more years, despite warnings about its dangers.

More than 90 percent of adults in the two islands have been contaminated by chlordecone, according to France's National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (Anses).

5 questions about chlordecone pesticide use in French Antilles

A judicial investigation was opened in Paris in 2008 after complaints filed by farmers, consumer and environmental organisations and public health advocates.

The case reached the courts after years of proceedings, and it was dismissed in 2023 by two investigating judges, who ruled that too much time had elapsed to secure criminal convictions.

However, the judges, in their ruling, acknowledged a "health scandal" and "environmental damage" that would "affect the daily lives" of the overseas territories' residents concerned "for many years to come".

Lawmakers earlier this month unanimously acknowledged the state's role the chlordecone scandal, setting the goal of decontaminating land and water and compensating victims of the contamination.

(with newswires)