Résumé : During the years 1972-1993, kepone a persistent pesticide has been used in the banana fields of the French West Indies (Martinique and Guadeloupe) to content a weevil. A slow desorption of the molecule from soil induces its transfer to the sea through the rivers from leaching and erosion. This study intended to take stock on the contamination by kepone of the fishery species around the islands fifteen years after the kepone ban. Furthermore other chemical pollutants were sought in fish and shellfish around the Martinique island. The results confirmed persistence of marine fauna contamination by kepone, mainly in the alluvium areas in front of polluted rivers. They shown also that this contamination may spread more widely but with fast decreasing through the marine food webs. For the other pollutants sought, the results were in general lower than the statutory values. Within these substances, only mercury gave a signal close to the prescribed threshold for top predator samples. Finally, on the whole the observed systems appeared preserved from human chemical pollutants, apart from kepone.
Pendant les années 1972-1993 un pesticide persistant, la chlordécone, a été utilisé dans les bananeraies des Antilles françaises (Martinique et Guadeloupe) pour lutter contre un charançon. Une désorption lente de la molécule fixée dans les sols conduit à son transfert progressif dans les milieux aquatiques puis vers le domaine marin au gré du lessivage et de l'érosion des sols contaminés. La présente étude visait à faire le point sur la contamination de la faune halieutique côtière des Antilles françaises quinze ans après l'interdiction d'usage de la molécule. En parallèle, une recherche systématique d'autres polluants chimiques a été effectuée sur des poissons et des crustacés ainsi que dans des sédiments autour de la Martinique. Les résultats confirment la persistance d'une contamination de la faune par la chlordécone, particulièrement dans les zones alluvionnaires des cours d'eau contaminés. Ils montrent également que cette contamination diffuse plus largement en s'atténuant, à travers les réseaux trophiques marins. Parmi les autres substances recherchées, les résultats dans les espèces d'intérêt halieutique se situent en général sous les concentrations maximales admissibles fixées par la réglementation. Parmi ces molécules, seul le mercure donne un signal de contamination proche de ce seuil chez des grands prédateurs. Ce constat souligne l'état de préservation des milieux observés vis-à-vis de la contamination chimique environnementale, hormis bien évidemment le cas de la chlordécone.

Droits : 2010 Onema / Ifremer
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2009/rapport-6896.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/6896/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
CONTEXT: Chlordecone, an environmentally persistent organochlorine insecticide used intensively in banana culture in the French West Indies until 1993, has permanently polluted soils and contaminated foodstuffs. Consumption of contaminated food is the main source of exposure nowadays. We sought to identify main contributors to blood chlordecone concentration (BCC) and to validate an exposure indicator based on food intakes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We used a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) completed by a sample of 194 pregnant women to estimate their dietary exposure to chlordecone and compared it to blood levels. In a first approach, chlordecone daily intake was estimated as the product of daily eaten quantity of 214 foodstuffs, multiplied by their chlordecone content, and summed over all items. We then predicted individual blood chlordecone concentration with empirical weight regression models based on frequency of food consumption, and without contamination data. RESULTS: Among the 191 subjects who had BCC determination, 146 (76%) had detectable values and mean BCC was 0.86 ng/mL (range < LOD-13.2). Mean per capita dietary intake of chlordecone was estimated at 3.3 microg/day (range: 0.1-22.2). Blood chlordecone levels were significantly correlated with food exposure predicted from the empirical weight models (r=0.47, p<0.0001) and, to a lesser extent, with chlordecone intake estimated from food consumption and food contamination data (r=0.20, p=0.007). Main contributors to chlordecone exposure included seafood, root vegetables, and Cucurbitaceous. CONCLUSION: These results show that the Timoun FFQ provides valid estimates of chlordecone exposure. Estimates from empirical weight models correlated better with blood levels of chlordecone than did estimates from the dietary intake assessment.
ISSN: 0013-9351

inserm-00517109
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00517109
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00517109/document
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00517109/file/Pesticide_exposureofpregnantwomeninGuadeloupe.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.envres.2009.10.015

Éditeur(s) : Université des Antilles AREBio Groupe de recherche BIOSPHERES : BIOlogie, Sciences Physiques & Humaines pour les énergies Renouvelables, l
Extrait de : 1er colloque international BIOSPHERES, du 18 au 20 juin 2019. Université des Antilles
Description : Chlordecone is a persistent organochlorine pesticide widely used between 1972 and 1993 in the French West Indies to control the root borer in banana fields. Chlordecone use resulted in long-term pollution of soils, contamination of waters, of aquatic organisms, and of fields. Chlordecone is known to be neurotoxic, to increase prostate cancer, and to have negative effects on cognitive and motor development during infancy. In Guadeloupe, most of the freshwater species living in contaminated rivers exceed the French legal limit of 20 ?g·kg?1 wet weight. In the present study (ANR MACHLOMA), we chose a transcriptomic approach to study the cellular effects of chlordecone in the giant freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii, an important economical species in Guadeloupe.

Droits : CC-BY-NC-ND - Attribution - Pas d'utilisation commerciale - Pas de modification
Permalien : http://www.manioc.org/fichiers/V19065
V19065

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
Banana has been a main agricultural product in the French West Indies (Guadeloupe and Martinique) since the 1960s. This crop requires the intensive use of pesticides to prevent attacks by insect pests. Chlorinated pesticides, such as hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), chlordecone and dieldrin, were used until the beginning of the 1990s, resulting in a generalized diffuse contamination of the soil and water in the areas of banana production, hence the need to develop solutions for cleanup of the polluted sites. The aims of this work were (i) to assess lindane degradation in soil slurry microcosms treated with lindane at 10 mg/L and (ii) to detect the catabolic genes involved in the HCH degradation pathway. The soil slurry microcosm system showed a 40 % lindane degradation efficiency at the end of a 30-day experiment. Lower lindane removal was also detected in the abiotic controls, probably caused by pesticide adsorption to soil particles. Indeed, the lindane concentration decreased from 6000 to 1330 ng/mL and from 800 to 340 ng/mL for the biotic and abiotic soils, respectively. Nevertheless, some of the genes involved in the HCH degradation pathway were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from crude deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extracted from the Guadeloupe agricultural soil, suggesting that HCH degradation is probably mediated by bacteria closely related to the family Sphingomonadaceae.
ISSN: 0944-1344

hal-01545905
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01545905
DOI : 10.1007/s11356-015-5875-7

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
This study investigates if acclimatization to residual pesticide contamination in agricultural soils is reflected in detoxification, antioxidant enzyme activities and energy budget of earthworms. Five fields within a joint agricultural area exhibited different chemical and farming histories from conventional cultivation to organic pasture. Soil multiresidual pesticide analysis revealed up to 9 molecules including atrazine up to 2.4 ng g(-1) dry soil. Exposure history of endogeic Aporrectodea caliginosa and Allolobophora chlorotica modified their responses to pesticides. In the field, activities of soluble glutathione-S-transferases (sGST) and catalase increased with soil pesticide contamination in A. caliginosa. Pesticide stress was reflected in depletion of energy reserves in A. chlorotica. Acute exposure of pre-adapted and naïve A. caliginosa to pesticides (fungicide Opus(®), 0.1 μg active ingredient epoxiconazole g(-1) dry soil, RoundUp Flash(®), 2.5 μg active ingredient glyphosate g(-1) dry soil, and their mixture), revealed that environmental pre-exposure accelerated activation of the detoxification enzyme sGST towards epoxiconazole.
ISSN: 0269-7491

hal-01063923
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01063923
DOI : 10.1016/j.envpol.2014.05.001
PUBMED : 24874794

Éditeur(s) : EDP Sciences
Résumé : Martinique is a French overseas department whose economy relies heavily on agriculture. Organochlorine pesticides, mainly chlordecone, were used for banana cultivation to eradicate banana weevil over a period of 40 years. Chlordecone is chemically stable,and has a strong affinity for fatty tissues. It is therefore able to bioaccumulate in animals and thereby represent a threat to ecosystems and man. Soils from banana plantations in Martinique are heavily contaminated with chlordecone. Possible transfer of these molecules from agricultural watersheds to the aquatic environment and the organisms that live in it is feared. The hypothesis that ecosystems of Martinique might be highly contaminated with this organochlorine pesticide was investigated. Chlordecone levels were measured in various freshwater and marine species. Data show a heavy contamination of many carnivorous and detritivorous species (fish and prawns). Concentrations measured in wild or farmed tilapia are among the highest ever reported in the literature. Some coastal species (fish and lobster) were also found to be contaminated, although to a lesser extent. Given the biogeochemical behavior of chlordecone, the most likely route of contamination is food. Detected concentrations in marine organisms are below the tolerated limits established by authorities. however. the impact of other sources of exposure, namely, contaminated water and root vegetables, remains to be investigated.
Aquatic Living Resources (0990-7440) (EDP Sciences), 2006-04 , Vol. 19 , N. 2 , P. 181-187

Droits : EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD 2006
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/2006/publication-1662.pdf
DOI:10.1051/alr:2006016
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00000/1662/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
AbstractBackground The intensive use of chlordecone (an organochlorine insecticide) in the French West Indies until 1993 resulted in a long-term soil and water contamination. Chlordecone has known hormonal properties and exposure through contaminated food during critical periods of development (gestation and early infancy) may affect growth. Objectives We aimed to assess the impact of prenatal and postnatal exposure to chlordecone on the growth of children from the TIMOUN mother–child cohort. Methods Chlordecone was determined in cord plasma at birth (N=222) and in breast milk samples (at 3 months). Dietary chlordecone intake was estimated at 7 and 18 months, with food-frequency questionnaires and food-specific contamination data. Anthropometric measurements were taken at the 3-, 7- and 18-month visits and measurements reported in the infants' health records were noted. Structured Jenss–Bayley growth models were fitted to individual height and weight growth trajectories. The impact of exposure on growth curve parameters was estimated directly with adjusted mixed non-linear models. Weight, height and body mass index (BMI), and instantaneous height and weight growth velocities at specific ages were also analyzed relative to exposure. Results Chlordecone in cord blood was associated with a higher BMI in boys at 3 months, due to greater weight and lower height, and in girls at 8 and 18 months, mostly due to lower height. Postnatal exposure was associated with lower height, weight and BMI at 3, 8 and 18 months, particularly in girls. Conclusion Chlordecone exposure may affect growth trajectories in children aged 0 to 18 months
ISSN: 0013-9351

hal-01169790
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01169790
DOI : 10.1016/j.envres.2015.06.023
PUBMED : 26133809