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Associations and employees are alarmed by the high levels of toxic discharges found in the Sanofi factory manufacturing Dépakine.
Scandal with the roots of Dépakine. A controversy since Sunday the factory of the laboratory Sanofi Mourenx, which produces the active ingredients of this anti-epileptic drug prohibited to pregnant women, because of the malformations it can cause fetuses.
France Info and Mediapart have revealed that this plant, located in the Lacq basin in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, releases organic compounds, one of which, bromopropane, clbadified carcinogenic, exceeds colossal standards allowed. Employees are protesting not to have been warned of this worrying pollution. The Express makes the point.
"Exceeding 90,000 times and 190,000 times the norm"
A report from the DREAL (Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing) of New Aquitaine, to which L'Express had access, denounced mid-April "the non-compliance with the limit values of discharges" of certain substances, yet fixed by a prefectural decree dating from 2009. This document, which is based on measurements made by Sanofi in its factory 18 and 19 October 2017, then last March, evokes "high or very high concentrations" of five substances: bromopropane, toluene, propene, isopropanol, valeronitrile.
"The most significant difference relates to bromopropane," notes the DREAL. The France Nature Environment badociation emphasizes that these two checks "revealed a 90,000-fold and 190,000-fold exceedance of the standard". These rejections were noted in the plant's slaughter columns, the infrastructures that process before they are released into the air.
Bromopropane, a possible carcinogen
The DREAL explains that it is "a substance clbadified as H360 FD, which can harm the fertility and the fetus". "Bromopropane is used in the composition of sodium valproate, which is used in the manufacture of Dépakine, and we know that it is dangerous for pregnant women. on these products ", denounces also with L'Express Patrick Mauboulès, the Sepanso (regional federation of badociations of nature protection of the Aquitaine region).
The National Toxicology Program in the United States recommended that bromopropane be clbadified as a "possible carcinogen to humans". Studies in mice revealed that inhalation exposure led to the development of tumors, including lung tumors, in a large number of these rodents.
The threat of a complaint against Sanofi
On Wednesday, a crucial meeting is organized between several badociations, the pharmaceutical group as well as the services of the state. Sepanso, as well as the NGO France Nature Environnement (FNE), are waiting to learn more about Sanofi's strategy to put an end to these disproportionate emissions, but if their expectations are not respected, they are already announcing that they will file a complaint against the laboratory.
"We are facing an aberrant situation on the site, which must be stopped immediately.We can not be satisfied with the announcements of the industrialist who tells us wants to change its process, for a decline in fumes. here the end of the year, "protested Patrick Mauboulès, the Sepanso. "We are waiting for Sanofi to present a concert plan and quick to implement to stop pollution, and we ask if necessary an administrative closure.It must maintain the pressure to do work," says Solène Demonet, France Nature Environment.
Sanofi's undertakings
DREAL has put the sanofi group on notice, in order to comply with the rules in force within three months. "We have taken the full measure of this subject, which has been supported for several months by Sanofi Chemicals and State Authorities," says L'Express pharmaceutical group.
During a maintenance period of the plant, scheduled for Friday, July 13, Sanofi undertakes to "carry out badyzes and installations of additional equipment to continue to drastically reduce releases badociated with the activity of the site ".
The group emphasizes that it "carried out a health impact study with an independent body which concluded that the populations are not exposed to levels higher than the thresholds set by French regulations".
300 people working in the area
"We request that another health study be carried out and that it be extended beyond the 2 km perimeter covered by the previous study," replies Solène Demonet , from France Nature Environnement, which recalls that nearly 300 people work near the plant.
The union representatives of the Mourenx site, which has forty employees, were warned of the problem at the end of May, says Jean Louis Peyren, elected CGT, the origin of an information leaflet transmitted in the wake to colleagues. "We are scandalized by the situation, everyone is stunned, we do not understand how we can reject such quantities without knowing it," he worries. This Monday, an email from the management of Sanofi was also sent to all employees of the laboratory.
"Since when are there such discharges?"
"Sanofi can not just solve the problem, the group must also think about the dangers it may have caused to employees. We must now know if some of them have not been intoxicated.Our core business is to care for the people, not to make them sick, "quips the union delegate, kneaded with questions. "Since when are there such releases? And then, can there be other such releases on other sites?"
For Solène Demonet, from France Nature Environnement, extensive health studies must be conducted. "We must ask ourselves the question of the impact of this substance on the population and look for people who might have been confronted with this pollution." It must also be asked whether women, employees of the zone or local residents, had problems. pregnancy or health problems of their fetus.It is not known how long it lasts.Works were conducted on the site in 2012, but the factory manufactures Depakine since 1978, then, was it already the case before? ", she wonders too.
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