The “French Chernobyl”
Sat, Feb 23, 2008
Years of unchecked pollution in France’s Rhone River have taken their toll with the recent discovery of PCB levels at 10-12 times the safe limit in the river’s fish.
The Rhone near Ardeche. Photo by PRA.
The discovery has led to a ban on fish from the river, prompting many to wonder about the health effects eating the fish may have had and leaving some of the rivers’ fishermen suicidal.
The Grand Large area of the Rhone outside Lyon is a tourist magnet, but the pollution in the water and its effect on wildlife has led the World Wildlife Fund to christen the area the “French Chernobyl”. The river’s sediment and fish show toxic levels of PCBs. PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyl, are an industrial chemical used to manufacture generators and electrical items, among others. They’re known to cause infertility and birth defects, and they may be carcinogenic.
Oddly enough, the problem was not uncovered by the government but by a local fishmonger. Cédric Giroud was the largest fishermen in the Grand Large area, selling thousands of tons of freshwater fish in the poorer sections of Lyon. His freshwater catches were significantly less expensive than Mediterranean fish, and he was a popular retailer among the poorer immigrant families in the French port.
In 2004, birds started dying along the Rhone. Autopsies showed the cause of death was avian botulism. Giroud’s customers were concerned. Giroud said: “Although there was no effect on my fish, customers who had seen dead birds were wary. Off my own back, just to reassure them, I sent my perfect-looking fish to the lab. I expected excellent results.”
The tests came back with an unexpected result. The fish had 10-12 times the legally mandated safety limit for PCBs. The French government banned consumption of fish from the Grand Large area in 2005, and has now applied that ban to all fish caught in the Rhone. Environmental groups, however, say this instance of pollution is just the first publicized incidence of much larger environmental problems the French government has ignored for decades.
Alain Chabrolle of local environmental group Frapna said: “This is the tip of the iceberg, the more research is done the more toxic contamination will be uncovered. There must be precise research on all possible PCBs sources, accurate maps and measures taken. The state polluted and allowed others to pollute. For decades they have put their head in the sand.”
The government may have actually been the root cause of the problem. The French government ran an industrial waste processing center called Tredi on the banks of the Rhone for years. The plant was intended to reduce the amount of pollution in the area, but it actually dumped PCBs into the river. New private owners, however, insist they have cleaned up the plant.
The environment is under repair, but for many the damage has already been done. Fishermen have not been offered any compensation while their livelihood has been removed, and Giroud admits he thinks of suicide. Scientists are trying to determine what, if any, health problems may have occurred from the consumption of tainted fish, but the research has not yet been finished.
Info from Guardian
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February 24th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Absurd comparison. Sensationalist scare-mongering. Chernobyl killed thousands of people and turned at least hundred square miles into a nuclear wasteland that still can’t be inhabited TWENTY years later. To compare a nuclear disaster to some pollution in a river is absurd. That the WWF participated in this horse*** is embarrassing.
February 24th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
We should not be surprised. A laissez-faire attitude toward industrial pollution always brings these results.
February 24th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
…but France is a good candidate for a real Tschernobyl as it has 20 nuclear power plants and what’s worse is that much more are planned to be build in the future.
February 24th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
While I agree that the comparison to Chernobyl is ridiculous, I have lived in the town shown in the photo, Tournon Sur Rhone (approx 1hrs drive south of Lyon) and the pollution levels were noticeable when I lived there during my childhood and it is a point reiterated often by members of my family who still today, live by the Rhone river. I return there yearly and the beautiful Ardeche region is well and truly being blemished by a growing problem of pollution in French rivers in the area, the same could be said for many French rivers in the hexagon although my knowledge in that area is limited. People in Tournon and the surrounding villages rely on the Rhone for energy, potable water, agriculture and it’s tourism industry. Access to fresh and clean water supplies will prove to be a priority as the extent of pollutants and environmental damage, in and done to rivers worldwide is assessed. On a personal level I am saddened that a town, which was my home for just under a decade, is being slowly killed off by a combination of neglect, ignorance and apathy.
February 24th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Pathetic comparison and irresponsible journalism. It is a tragic thing to see, but sensationalism for the sake of sensationalism needs to be stopped. Comparing a polluted river to a nuclear disaster that affected the world? wow
February 24th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Yeah, the comparison to Chernobyl is ridiculous. But this is sort of surprising– I would think a socialist country like France would have a hard-ass attitude on industrial pollution.
February 24th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
The comparison with Chernobyl is certainly not appropriated. And it is furthermore astonishing to see that people point to the Rhone river now whereas it is known for years that the state of New York is probably the most affected (probably way more than the Rhone river) as one can read on the article at Wikipedia.
It may also be not so surprising that one of the main producers of PCB was Monsanto…
February 24th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
All to power French Industry
An oxymoron on more than one count
February 25th, 2008 at 11:00 am
A good article even if for only illustrative purposes. Long life toxins eventually build up in the marine ecosystem. Combined with other factors such as over fishing, effects from climate change can lead to marine ecosystem collapse. Just another stress on the planet’s ecological life support system.
In popular work by economists such as Stern, which cover costs of climate change, such situations are not addressed. They will have to be though.
February 25th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Birds are dying of radiation poisoning emitting from the waste that is dumped in the water. It is too bad the French govt doesn’t provide for takeoff to Saturn in cans with the stuff instead of dumping it in the river around Lyon.
February 26th, 2008 at 5:18 am
When will non-french people stop calling France a “socialist” country ? France has been a socialist republic for only 14 years of its history (1981-1995). Get your clichés fixed for the love of God.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
so? France is still France. Won’t change even with nutty Sarkozy :D.
March 1st, 2008 at 7:20 pm
here’s a TV report on the situ with the Rhone…doesn’t look too bad, I must say - perhaps, it is a bit of scaremongering after all?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzR6NBHIHO0
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Quote:
“20 years later a UN report provides definitive answers and ways to repair lives.
A total of up to four thousand people could eventually die of radiation exposure from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) accident nearly 20 years ago, an international team of more than 100 scientists has concluded.
As of mid-2005, however, fewer than 50 deaths had been directly attributed to radiation from the disaster, almost all being highly exposed rescue workers, many who died within months of the accident but others who died as late as 2004.”
While we do not know how many people already died as a result of PCB’s in the Rhone river it may be more and it may be less than 50. The total number of deaths could also go into thousands over 20 years or so. Therefore the comparison to Chernobyl is not far fetched.