Rhone pollution dubbed "French Chernobyl"
Published 01 March, 2008, 06:13
High levels of toxic chemicals have been found in the river Rhone in France. They have already contaminated its fish and now there are fears for the rest of the food chain. And people are feeling the effects of the poison as well.
Cedric Giraud used to sell 10 tonnes of fish every year. But when birds started dying on the River Rhone he took one of his fish to be tested and discovered it contained dangerous levels of toxins. The French government banned people from eating fish from the river and Cedric found himself jobless.
“It was very tough psychologically. When you're married with kids and suddenly from one day to the next you have no income it's hard to cope,” says Cedric Giraud, ex-fisherman.
The fish there contain high levels of toxic chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs. Factories along the river pumped these non-biodegradable chemicals into the water.
Ecologists say that the French government turned a blind eye to the pollution for decades and that has resulted in what they call a time bomb.
The World Wildlife Fund has dubbed this the “French Chernobyl”. It says the effect of PCBs on human health could be drastic.
“Chronic exposure to PCBs is thought to cause cancer especially liver cancer and it's also thought to affect the nervous system. If a pregnant women ingests it, her child could potentially be retarded,” says Cyrille Deshayes, from World Wildlife Fund, Paris.
Even if the freshwater fish sold in this market in Lyon isn't from the Rhone there's no guarantee it's not poisonous. Waterways across France and the world are contaminated with PCBs. They are known to cause infertility and birth defects in animals.
“It does strange things to animals – it's made some fish change sex or become hermaphrodites,” notes Alain Chabrolle from FRAPNA environmental group.
PCBs are now banned but once they were used worldwide in a range of industrial processes, from electrical transformers to adhesives and paints. But they're still present in many factories.
The French government says it is trying to eliminate the use of PCBs. But some say the damage is already done. And many scientists say it is not just the fish affected. The water from these rivers is used to irrigate surrounding crops and it's thought the toxins could've made their way right through the food chain, affecting other animals such as birds.
Cedric lost his livelihood after going public. He got no compensation from the government. It took him two years to get back on his feet. Now he's got a job testing fish in rivers near nuclear power stations. But he and many others would like to see these sorts of tests broadened to include other dangerous pollutants like PCBs.
On the surface the Rhone looks like a haven for nature but in its riverbed lurks a potential ecological catastrophe.
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