Justice recognized Thursday, April 15 the professional origin of Marcel Geslin’s Parkinson’s disease. Died last June, the man had worked for 37 years in the same arboricultural company.
A battle won after death. Thursday, April 25, justice recognized the professional origin of the Parkinson’s disease of Marcel Geslin, a former arborist employee who died last June at the age of 74. On April 15, the Maine-et-Loire social security court (Tass) overturned the decision of the amicable appeal commission of the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA) in this department. In October 2017, the latter had rejected the request for recognition of the occupational origin of Marcel Geslin’s Parkinson’s disease. “Mr Geslin’s illness must be taken care of under the legislation on occupational risks”, concludes the Tass today in its judgment, asking the MSA of Maine-et-Loire “to make the adjustments accordingly financial”.
Marcel Geslin worked for 37 years in the same arboricultural company in Loiré, near Angers. “He did not handle the phytosanitary products himself. But like all the employees at the time, he worked in the ranks during and after the treatments”, explains to the press his brother and tutor Michel Geslin, who led the fight. with the courts.
In 2008, Marcel fell ill. The specialists then thought of Alzheimer’s before diagnosing him with Parkinson’s a few years later. It was then that his family launched an application for recognition of occupational disease caused by pesticides. “This recognition was refused to us for the first time in 2017 because the initial certificate from his attending physician had only mentioned ‘memory problems’. Even though the Mutualité sociale agricole had all the opinions of the specialists”, laments Michel Geslin. In 2018, the justice reiterated its refusal for reasons of instruction time.
“We made things happen”
This is why, today, Michel Geslin is happy. “It’s more than a victory for honor (…) With the media coverage of my brother’s story, we made things happen. Other victims of pesticides came forward to us to make their voices heard. voice and no longer suffer the law of silence”, he enthuses.
Of course, this court decision was also greeted with great hope by the Western Pesticide Victims Support Collective, created four years ago. “This is an emblematic case because it shows that the agricultural social protection organizations, although perfectly informed, prefer to let it go. For those who want to have their disease recognized, it is an obstacle course”, rejoices its spokesperson. Michel Besnard, quoted by The Obs. “Being recognized as an occupational disease is a due for all those who have used or been exposed to pesticides without being informed of the dangers, trained and protected”, adds the Collective in a press release, adding that “Parkinson is on the list of diseases agricultural regime, as a disease caused by pesticides”. “To be recognized as an occupational disease is to prove that these pesticides make sick, kill, destroy families”, concludes the Collective, which claims 14 recognitions from the Tass in its region.
Granting a lifetime annuity
And if this figure can impress, it is low in view of the number of files listed by Phytovictims. Since its creation in 2011, the association for assistance to professional victims has brought together 429 cases nationwide, including 92 for Parkinson’s disease. “Exposure to pesticides can cause various symptoms: vomiting, nausea, headaches, great fatigue, muscle pain, eczema, etc. These are a sign of poisoning. But pesticides can also induce serious pathologies: neurodegenerative diseases and neurological disorders (including Parkinson’s), multiple chemical sensitivities, leukaemia, lymphoma, cancer of the lung, kidney, bladder, testicles, pancreas, prostate, skin, etc. If you have declared any such symptoms or pathologies after being exposed to pesticides during your professional activities, you can apply for recognition as an occupational disease.This recognition allows the payment of care related to the disease, but also the allocation of a pension to life”, is it explained on the association’s website.
In 2017, representatives of the Mutualité Sociale Agricole (MSA) recognized that the use of phytosanitary products was responsible for “2%” of occupational diseases among farmers. “We should obviously no longer use chemicals”, had therefore concluded Patrice Heurtaut, director of occupational health and safety of the agricultural social security organization before the Information Mission on the use of phytopharmaceuticals.
Regarding Parkinson’s, the latter affects more than 200,000 people in France. It is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the destruction of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra of the brain. Since the latter are involved in the control of movement, the major symptoms of the disease are slowness, tremors at rest and rigidity. If treatments exist to make life easier for patients, nothing can currently stop the development of the affliction, which varies enormously from one patient to another.
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