Pour lire plus tard, sauvegardez cet article en vous connectant ou en créant un compte sur franceinfo. Sans paiement. Le magazine Sans abonnement dévoile une enquête collaborative sur le coût de la décontamination du continent européen par les "polluants éternels", et sur les campagnes d'influence de certains industriels pour éviter leur interdiction. Ce sont des molécules chimiques auxquelles les industriels sont devenus accros, qui rendent les poêles antiadhésives, les tissus imperméables. On les retrouve aussi parfois dans les produits cosmétiques et dans les emballages alimentaires des sandwichs. Leur nom : les PFAS. Il en existe près de 10 000. Au fil des années, certaines sont reconnues comme cancérogènes. Le PFOA, une substance utilisée pendant des décennies par les géants de la chimie, a été interdit en France en 2020. En collaboration avec 46 journalistes européens du Forever Lobbying Project, les équipes de "Complément d’enquête" ont investigué sur les stratégies des industriels pour défendre ces substances alors qu’à l’Assemblée nationale et aux autorités européennes, des projets d’interdiction des PFAS sont en discussion. "Complément d’enquête" révèle comment certains industriels sont parvenus à convaincre les élus et gouvernants que certaines de ces substances seraient sans risque. Aux Etats-Unis, les géants de la chimie connaissent la dangerosité de certains PFAS depuis des décennies mais ils l’ont longtemps dissimulée.

Sans abonnement, vous pouvez lire un article sur le coût de la décontamination du continent européen par les «polluants éternels» et les campagnes d’influence de certains industriels pour éviter leur interdiction. What did French industrialists, like Tefal or Arkema, know about their dangerousness?

In Rumilly, Haute-Savoie, Tefal, the iconic French brand that produces the famous non-stick pans, has always claimed to have stopped using PFOA in 2012, nearly ten years before it was required by law. But what is the responsibility of the industrialist in the pollution around the factory before this stop?

With confidential documents as evidence, «Complément d’enquête» reveals how the environment around the Tefal factory was contaminated by PFAS. Did the industrialist take all measures to ensure the safety of its employees who worked in contact with the molecule? Tefal claims to have always done everything to protect the health of its employees and points to the possible responsibility of other surrounding industries in the PFAS pollution affecting the region.

The journalists of «Complément d’enquête» also investigated Arkema, the French leader in chemistry, and its site in Pierre-Bénite, south of Lyon. According to confidential documents obtained by «Complément d’enquête,» Arkema was informed in the early 2000s by its American counterparts about the dangerousness of certain PFAS and the risks of contamination of populations around production sites.

In France, residents of the towns south of Lyon had to wait for the media to address the issue two decades later to be informed. Arkema claims to have always complied with current regulations.

Who should pay for the cleanup now? Many legal battles are beginning between industrialists and communities. Getting rid of these eternal pollutants is a health and financial issue. To estimate the cost of this cleanup for Europe, the Forever Pollution Project compiled thousands of scientific and economic data. The figure is staggering: 100 billion euros per year, more than half of the annual budget of the European Union.

An investigation by Emilie Rosso, Pierre-Stephane Fort, and Marielle Krouk/Studio Fact.
In collaboration with the Forever Lobbying Project.

In the red armchairs: Stanislas de Gramont, CEO of the SEB group.

The editorial team of «Complément d’enquête» invites you to comment on the show on Facebook or on Twitter with the hashtag #ComplementDenquete.

The collaborative investigation ‘Forever Lobbying Project’, coordinated by Le Monde, involves 46 journalists and 29 media partners in 16 countries: RTBF (Belgium); Denik Referendum (Czech Republic); Investigative Reporting Denmark (Denmark); Yle (Finland); France Télévisions (France); MIT Technology Review Germany, NDR, WDR, and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany); Reporters United (Greece); L’Espresso, Radar Magazine, Facta.eu, and La Via libera (Italy); Investico, De Groene Amsterdammer, and Het Financieele Dagblad (Netherlands); Klassekampen (Norway); Ostro (Slovenia); DATADISTA/elDiario.es (Spain); Sveriges Radio and Dagens ETC (Sweden); SRF (Switzerland); The Black Sea (Turkey); Watershed Investigations/The Guardian (United Kingdom), with an editorial partnership with Arena for Journalism in Europe, and in collaboration with Corporate Europe Observatory, a watchdog organization for lobbying activities in Brussels.

The investigation is based on more than 14,000 unpublished documents on «eternal pollutants,» including 184 information access requests, 66 of which were made and shared by Corporate Europe Observatory.

The investigation was supported by a group of experts consisting of eighteen international researchers and jurists. The project received financial support from the Pulitzer Center, the Broad Reach Foundation, Journalismfund Europe, and IJ4EU. There is a website dedicated to the project: foreverpollution.eu.

Replays of France Télévisions’ news magazines are available on the Franceinfo website under «Les émissions». Sans abonnement, vous pouvez accéder à un magazine qui dévoile une enquête collaborative sur le coût de la décontamination du continent européen par les «polluants éternels» et les campagnes d’influence des industriels pour éviter leur interdiction. What did French industrialists, such as Tefal and Arkema, know about their hazardous nature?

In Rumilly, Haute-Savoie, Tefal, the iconic French brand that produces the famous non-stick pans, has always claimed to have stopped using PFOA in 2012, nearly ten years before the law required it. But what is the responsibility of the industrialist in the pollution around the factory before this stop? With confidential documents as evidence, «Complément d’enquête» reveals how the environment around the Tefal factory was contaminated by PFAS. Did the industrialist take all measures to ensure the safety of its employees who worked with the molecule? Tefal claims to have always done everything to protect the health of its employees and points to the possible responsibility of other surrounding industries in the PFAS pollution affecting the region.

The journalists of «Complément d’enquête» also looked into Arkema, the leader in French chemistry, and its site in Pierre-Bénite, south of Lyon. According to confidential documents obtained by «Complément d’enquête,» Arkema was informed as early as the 2000s by its American counterparts about the hazardous nature of certain PFAS and the risks of contamination of populations around production sites.

In France, residents of the municipalities south of Lyon had to wait for the media to address the issue two decades later to be informed. Arkema claims to have always complied with regulations in force.

Who should pay for the cleanup now? Many legal battles are underway between industrialists and local authorities. Getting rid of these eternal pollutants is not only a health issue but also a financial one. To estimate the cost of this cleanup for Europe, the Forever Pollution Project has compiled thousands of scientific and economic data. The figure is staggering: 100 billion euros per year, more than half of the European Union’s annual budget.

An investigation by Emilie Rosso, Pierre-Stephane Fort, and Marielle Krouk / Studio Fact. In collaboration with the Forever Lobbying Project.

In the red armchairs: Stanislas de Gramont, CEO of the SEB group.

The editorial staff of «Complément d’enquête» invites you to comment on the show on Facebook or on Twitter with the hashtag #ComplementDenquete.

The collaborative investigation ‘Forever Lobbying Project,’ coordinated by Le Monde, involves 46 journalists and 29 media partners in 16 countries: RTBF (Belgium); Denik Referendum (Czech Republic); Investigative Reporting Denmark (Denmark); Yle (Finland); France Télévisions (France); MIT Technology Review Germany, NDR, WDR, and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany); Reporters United (Greece); L’Espresso, Radar Magazine, Facta.eu, and La Via libera (Italy); Investico, De Groene Amsterdammer, and Het Financieele Dagblad (Netherlands); Klassekampen (Norway); Ostro (Slovenia); DATADISTA/elDiario.es (Spain); Sveriges Radio and Dagens ETC (Sweden); SRF (Switzerland); The Black Sea (Turkey); Watershed Investigations/The Guardian (United Kingdom), with an editorial partnership with Arena for Journalism in Europe, and in collaboration with Corporate Europe Observatory, a watchdog organization for lobbying activity in Brussels.

The investigation is based on over 14,000 unpublished documents on «eternal pollutants,» including 184 access to information requests, of which 66 were made and shared by Corporate Europe Observatory.

The investigation was accompanied by a group of experts consisting of eighteen international researchers and jurists. The project received financial support from the Pulitzer Center, the Broad Reach Foundation, Journalismfund Europe, and IJ4EU. There is a dedicated website for the project: foreverpollution.eu.

Replays of France Télévisions news magazines are available on the Franceinfo website, under the «Les émissions» section. Without subscription.

SOURCE