November 13, 2025
Guadeloupe and Martinique residents exposed for years to a toxic pesticide are demanding justice from the French government.
Residents of Guadeloupe and Martinique are demanding financial compensation and accountability from the French government over years of forced exposure to toxic pesticides.
In a landmark March 2025 ruling, a French court held the state responsible for the reproductive issues of two women and nine men who developed prostate cancer, acknowledging that France had knowingly exposed them to a toxic pesticide with lifelong consequences, Inside Climate News reported. With over 90% of Guadeloupe and Martinique’s populations carrying traces of chlordecone in their blood — and both islands reporting some of the world’s highest prostate cancer rates — residents are demanding recognition and justice from the French government.
“We were exposed to this chemical that was known for its harmful effects, daily and constantly. And it has ruined lives,” said Georgina Lambert, a native of Guadaloupe who suffered six consecutive miscarriages before realizing her reproductive struggles were because of her forced exposure to the toxic pesticide.
Lambert, now living in France, grew up in Guadeloupe, swimming in rivers and playing among banana trees rooted in soil contaminated with chlordecone. The French government continued using the toxic pesticide on banana plantations until the mid-1990s, despite its known danger, with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banning it in 1976 and the World Health Organization labeling it a carcinogen three years later.
Today, much of Guadeloupe and Martinique remains covered in banana fields bordered by homes and schools where chlordecone was once heavily used. The chemical continues to seep into soil and water with each rainfall, contaminating streams, livestock, and crops, with its toxic effects expected to linger for up to 600 years.
“The food chain was contaminated,” said Luc Multigner, one of the lead researchers at Iserm, who spent two decades studying the pesticide. “As a result, contamination wasn’t limited to banana plantation areas only.”
Recent studies from France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) show that chlordecone is an endocrine disruptor linked to prostate cancer, premature births, and developmental issues in children. New research published on Oct. 16, 2025, found it also reduces women’s fertility — those with high blood levels were 25–28% less likely to conceive.
However, the journey to justice continues as French Caribbean residents residing over 4,000 miles from Paris endure the scars of this environmental disaster. Each call for justice reignites long-held resentment over France’s colonial legacy, inequality, and neglect of its overseas territories.
In 2019, Lambert learned of a lawsuit filed by nearly 1,300 Guadeloupe and Martinique residents seeking compensation for chlordecone exposure. She joined the case, and in March 2025, a court ordered the state to pay her and 10 others up to €10,000 each. Though few plaintiffs succeeded, the ruling could set a precedent for future claims. As a result, the French government has appealed the decision, drawing criticism from the victims’ lawyer, Christophe Leguevaques.
“The state is engaging in double-talk. The president and some ministers have publicly acknowledged the state’s share of responsibility, so why does it bother them when the courts agree?” Leguevaques said.
“[The state] claims it wants to improve the situation for its citizens, yet when there is a tool that allows them to do so, they challenge it. It’s incomprehensible to the residents of the French Caribbean.”
In response to the crisis, France has introduced measures such as free “chlordeconemie” blood tests and government-funded soil testing through groups like Jafa in Guadeloupe. A “maximum residue limit” policy also permits food with low chlordecone levels to be sold — an approach often criticized by locals.
“They’re trying to contain the problem, not solve it,” said Josiane Jos Pelage, a pediatrician who hosts community meetings to help residents better understand chlordecone and its dangers. “It’s not ambitious enough.”
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