They brought you the special preview screenings of THE HELP and FAST GIRLS. Now join the I Will Tell International Film Festival for their 7^thfilm festival at the Coronet cinema from 30 August to 9 September, celebrating the theme Live Your Dream. Tickets start from just £5 !

Opening Gala Screening of THE REDEMPTION OF GENERAL BUTT NAKED with a post-screening discussion with Rev. David Shosanya, 40 films over 11 days and nights, Director Q&As, Post-screening discussions, Seminars and Workshops on the theme Live Your Dream!

For those who have enjoyed BHW's screening of rare and unusual films which show African/Caribbean people in an accurate and positive light, this film festival is a must attend event. Funded by Garveyite principles and guided by faith, there are 40 films to choose from at a central London venue. There are too many to list here but check the trailers below.. 

 To view the whole festival calendar or to book tickets visit  http://www.iwilltell.com/festival11/festival.html  

 I was out with my mother near a banana plantation, when I was sprayed with a generous amount of pesticide  from a crop duster aircraft. It burned as it got into my eyes and it affected me for days.  I cried at the time but little did I know that this incident could potentially have worse consequences than me having to rub my eyes. My name is Nathalie Montlouis and I will tell you how my island, my family and my people have been legally poisoned for over two decades.

In order for me to do so, I need to start in the year 1950 when a pesticide reputed infallible against roaches, leaf eating insects and larvae was patented by a company called Allied Chemical. This pesticide, branded Kepone, was manufactured in a small town called Hopewell in the State of Virginia in the USA. Although manufactured there, it is interesting to note that the product was mainly commercialised in Africa and South America (Foster 2005).  It was quickly proven that the destructive powers of this product were not merely limited to pests. In fact, the employees working at the Hopewell factory suffered from neurological problems (they could not stop shaking) and a decrease of sperm count and mobility (Lah 2011). The environment was not spared, as from 1966 to 1975; the wastes from this factory were dumped in the James River, contaminating the fragile ecosystem of the region. In 1975, after an intense legal and political battle, human and environmental rights were placed over economic considerations, the factory was closed and the substance was banned in the USA.

This story could have been one of those typical scandals where corporations led by greed are denounced and punished- Allied Chemical was fined $13.2 million (Wilson 2011) - but clearly, in this instance, the power of greed was underestimated. Indeed, not only had the product not been universally discontinued, but it was brought and used in my community.

To put things into context, one has to know that Martinique, a French department, is not an independent country. Major legal or health decisions are made in France. The Martiniquan economy is mainly based on the exportation of bananas, which is controlled by the békés. Béké is a Creole name given to the descendants of the former slave owners of Martinique. They constitute a minority of the population, yet they control the majority of the economy (if you want more information about the Martiniquan béké,  watch the documentary "The last Masters of Martinique " by Romain Bolinzer 2009). Martinique is a 436 square miles island, of which 84% of the arable land is covered by banana fields where the pesticide has been used (Almandin, Shabbi 2008). Consequently this is a small island, with large banana fields covered with a toxic substance. With the water runoff, the whole island has been contaminated (Multigner 2010).

Kepone has been used in Martinique since 1972. After the health and ecological scandal of Hopewell, the formula was bought and rebranded Curlone in 1981 by a béké, Laurent de Laguarigue (Patriarca 2009). This dangerous substance kept on being widely used on Martiniquan banana plantations. It is only in 1993 that it was formally banned, which was 18 long years after the Hopewell scandal. Indeed, despite the disastrous effects of the substance already observed in Virginia since the 1970's, it is only in 1990 that the French ministry of agriculture declared there was enough evidence to pronounce the product dangerous and ban it from France. However, the big banana producers complained about the lack of alternative pesticides. The ban on Curlone was a direct economic loss to them. This may have been one of the reasons why Mr. Guy Lordinot, a Martiniquan MP, petitioned for a special permission to use the pesticide in Martinique for a longer period of time. Two derogations, in accord with the French administration, were granted by the French ministers of Agriculture: Mr. Louis Mermaz (1992) and Jean-Pierre Soisson (1993) under the presidency of Francois Mitterrand.  (Almandin, Shabbi 2008).

During these legal/economical transactions, the Martiniquan population was not told what was going on. It is only in 2007, that the scandal and its extent was unveiled.  In that year,  Martiniquan journalist Louis Boutrin and  writer activist  Raphael Confiant published a "controversial" book titled: Chronicle of a poisoning foretold[1]. In this book, they exposed the relation between the French administration and the békés, which allegedly were responsible for chlordecone pollution in Martinique and Guadeloupe. Paralleling these allegations, the oncologist Dr. Dominique Belpomme published, within the same year, an alarming report on pesticide pollution in Martinique linking chlordecone (major component of the pesticide Curlone formerly known as Kepone...)  to an increase of prostate and breast cancer, infertility, and foetal malformations (Belpomme 2007). In spite of the massive scientific backlash that Belpomme received from his peers, his conclusions have been confirmed by the INSERM (National Institute for Health and Medical Research) and the CHU of Point a Pitre (University Hospital of Point a Pitre) in a research called Karuprostate. It was confirmed that men exposed to the substance had 80% more chances to develop cancer of the prostate (Multigner 2010). It is interesting to note that the INSERM has decided to conduct the study in Guadeloupe, which has been less exposed than Martinique. On the Graph Bellow it is clear that chlordecone was mainly used in Basse-Terre (left side of Guadeloupe) and not Grande Terre (Right side). Guadeloupe being two distinct islands, the level of contamination may less concentrated than the Martiniquan one.

The year 2007 as I remember it was the year of revelations. Everyone was appalled, shocked scandalised. It was everywhere, the word in the streets at that time was: if you have to eat "local" roots vegetables like yams and dasheen, make sure it is imported. Indeed, the French minister of health at the time, Ms. Roselyne Bachelot advised the French islanders not to consume products from their garden or spring water more than twice a week whilst waiting for new "scientific research of high quality". In 2008, the government launched an action plan against the effects of Chlordecone in Martinique and Guadeloupe (2008-2010). The governmental actions aimed to somehow install a plan to monitor the soil and foodstuff. At the end of August 2009, l'Institut de Veille Sanitaire (equivalent to the British Ministry of Health) published a report which concluded that: "there is no cancer epidemic linked to organochlorine pesticides (such as chlordecone)", but the study "does not allow one to conclude that there are no links between the exposure [to these pesticides] and other cancerous localisation."[2][3] (Almandin, Shabbi 2008).

It is interesting to note that the same government that did not have enough evidence to prohibit chlordecone based pesticides in the 1980's, now still does not have enough evidence to link the increase of cancers as well as the decrease of fertility:

In spite of this paucity of information, it is also interesting to note that no independent research have been commissioned to scientifically assess the health impact on the population and develop an effective campaign of decontamination.

As a woman who grew up in rural Martinique and therefore who is likely to develop cancer at an early age, I am appalled by such obvious manoeuvres privileging profit over life. What have our politicians done ? What have we, as a people done? I cannot eat roots vegetables from my own garden, I am eating local fishes at my own risks, I do not know what is going on and the authorities do not seem concerned. As the media hype decreased the population went slowly back to its parties and festivals seemingly deaf and blind to the health and environmental issues threatening the island. Worse, in 2011, in what I would call a masochist fit of amnesia, Mr Serge Letchimy (MP) has asked for derogation from the French ministry of Agriculture to continue aerial crop dusting in Martinique. Shall we see it as a conspiracy theory? This is arguable, but one thing is certain: one should never under estimate the power of greed.

Work cited:

Almandin, D. Shabbi, C. (2008) Le problème de la Chlordecone en Martinique. Retrieved on 20/06/2012

http://www.montraykreyol.org/IMG/pdf/Problematique_de_la_chlordecone_a_la_Martinique.pdf

Belpomme, D. (2007).Rapport d'expertise et d'audit externe concernant la pollution par les pesticides en Martinique. Conséquences agrobiologiques, alimentaires et sanitaires

et proposition d'un plan de sauvegarde en cinq points.retrieved on : 20/06/2012 http://www.observatoire-pesticides.gouv.fr/upload/bibliotheque/868752586725186063029104619469/rapport-Belpomme-Antilles.pdf

Holst, A. M., Encyclopedia Virginia staff. (2011, April 7). Kepone (Chlordecone). Retrieved: 20/06/2012, from Encyclopedia Virginia: http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Kepone.

Lah (2011) Effects of Pesticides on Human Health. http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Effects+of+Pesticides+on+Human+Health retrieved on 16/06/2012

Patriarca, A. (2009).Les Victimes Oubliées du chlordecone. Retrieved on 20/06/2012.

http://www.sante-et-travail.fr/antilles--les-victimes-oubliees-du-chlordecone_fr_art_869_44204.html

Wilson, S. (2011) Kepone Legacy. Retrieved on 20/06/2012.

http://www.hopewellnews.com/news/exec/view.pl?archive=2&num=3468#.T-3OtZH4LjM

Graphs:

INRAhttp://www.debatpublic-portguadeloupe.org/docs/etudes-mo/inra/risques-de-contamination-par-la-chlordecone-des-baies-du-gra.pdf

INSEhttp://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/document.asp?reg_id=23&ref_id=13806&page=ae_bilan/AES70/AES70ma_G18.htm

[1]Original title : Chronique d'un empoisonnement annoncé (éd. L'Harmattan)