Exposed to pollutants, the inhabitants of Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône and Fos-sur-Mer are more at risk of suffering from certain diseases, according to a study.
A study (1) based on the health of 816 people living on the edge of this industrial port shows that they are more affected by respiratory ailments, diabetes and cancer. 63% of the inhabitants of Fos-sur-Mer and Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône suffer from at least one chronic disease against 36.6% in France.
Concerned residents
This work carried out and financed by the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) published Tuesday in The Parisian are overwhelming. They precisely reveal that in the perimeter studied, nearly one in two adults and one in four children have respiratory ailments. ANSES stresses that “residents are concerned about the quality of their environment, local sources of pollution, and their link with their health. They chronicle pollution that has become ordinary, industrial overflows which are combined with other forms of local exposure to pollution ”.
In Fos-sur-mer (Bouches-du-Rhône), the oil tankers sailing off the industrial port are everyday scenes. A flourishing economic activity which is not without consequences on the health of local residents.
A study (1) based on the health of 816 people living on the edge of this industrial port shows that they are more affected by respiratory ailments, diabetes and cancer. 63% of the inhabitants of Fos-sur-Mer and Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône suffer from at least one chronic disease against 36.6% in France.
Concerned residents
This work carried out and financed by the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) published Tuesday in The Parisian are overwhelming. They precisely reveal that in the perimeter studied, nearly one in two adults and one in four children have respiratory ailments. ANSES stresses that “residents are concerned about the quality of their environment, local sources of pollution, and their link with their health. They chronicle pollution that has become ordinary, industrial overflows which are combined with other forms of local exposure to pollution ”.
Cumulative asthma, which often begins in adulthood, affects 16% of the inhabitants of this area, against only 10% of the French population on average. The cancer rate is also higher around the Etang de Berre. 14.5% of women in Fos and Port-Saint-Louis have or have had cancer compared to 5.4% of women in France. And diabetes of all types are present in 11.6% of the inhabitants of the area, against 6% in the rest of France.
Figures below reality?
And to those who already criticize the methodology of this research, based on the declarative, the researchers answer: “If there is a bias in our study, it is an underestimation bias and not an overestimation bias. First, because the most seriously ill people were not able to participate in the study. Second, there are many pathologies that have not yet been diagnosed, such as autoimmune diseases, ”says Yolaine Ferrier, doctoral anthropologist at EHESS Marseille and co-author of the study.
As a reminder, the inhabitants of the Gulf of Fos are particularly exposed to pollution from the Etang de Berre, one of the most important industrial areas in Europe, with, among others, its refineries and the ArcelorMittal blast furnaces. .
(1) Independent study financed with funds entrusted to the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety by the AVIESAN Cancer ITMO.
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