the Sanofi plant put on notice by the State

Sanofi has not finished with the Dépakine case. After the health component that earned him a group action, a new chapter, environmental this time, has just opened. At issue: the Mourenx site (Pyrénées-Atlantique) shut down Monday evening by Sanofi

The government has given the group three months to comply with the authorized limits for toxic discharges into the air of its plant Béarn which produces in particular bromopropane, the active principle of its antiepileptic Dépakine. "All conditions regarding emissions and the absence of risks for employees and residents must be met for the State to authorize a resumption of activity on the site," said the Minister of Ecological Transition, Nicolas Hulot, and the Minister of Health, Agnès Buzyn. The formal notice, made in April, expires mid-July.

To ensure this, samples and badyzes will be conducted on the site and in its vicinity. Sanofi, which was scheduled to shut down the plant for maintenance this summer, is hoping for a return to standards by the end of August. Its managing director, Olivier Brandicourt, has requested an investigation at the group's chemistry division.

The FNE will lodge a complaint

However, France nature environnement (FNE) intends to lodge a complaint against Sanofi for exceeding the threshold . Located in the Lacq industrial area, this Seveso-listed factory employs around 50 people. It is authorized to release into the air five volatile organic compounds (bromopropane, toluene, isopropanol, valonitrile and propene) in the overall limit of 110 mg / m3. However, "it actually emits 770,000 mg / m3, or 7,000 times more than the authorized standard," says the FNE; even more so in the case of bromopropane

Contacted by "Les Echos", Sanofi recognizes the existence of "pollution beyond the standards for releases of bromopropane". But these overruns "do not present any danger for residents in the short term". "The shutdown of Mourenx is a good thing but it does not erase the risks incurred in the past. We will therefore lodge a complaint this week, "announces Solène Demonet, in charge of industrial risks at the FNE.

Jean-Michel Gradt