Long version of the opinion article published in Libération on 6 December 2024 .
By Jacky Bonnemains, director of the NGO Robin des Bois, Judith Rainhorn, historian, Health&Humanities Chair, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and author of Blanc de plomb. Histoire d’un poison légal (White lead. History of a legal poison, Presses de Sciences Po, 2019) and Lex van Geen, geochemist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University New York.
Lead-contaminated waste in big bags inside Notre-Dame, November 28, 2022
© Charlotte Nithart/Robin des Bois
Five years ago, images of the cathedral in flames went round the world. This Sunday, when it reopens to the public, Notre-Dame will once again be in the international spotlight. But the reconstruction of the spire and roof with the very same lead sheeting will be seen by some as a provocation. Would Viollet-le-Duc himself have appreciated it, whereas he abandoned lead paint in favour of zinc paint for the renovation of the basilica of Saint-Denis?
The Notre-Dame disaster brought back in the headlines the risks of one of the most serious and longest-standing environmental pollution: lead in the air, soil and water. Masked by asbestos, chlorinated solvents, mercury, dioxins, pesticides and PFAS, the toxicity of lead had become almost invisible. After unanimous mourning and shock, time came for science and knowledge: chemists, toxicologists, epidemiologists, sociologists, historians, architects and intermediate bodies studying the fire were reminded of the health risks of exposure to lead. Proven for centuries, identified and documented for 150 years, these risks are also present today: all international classifications designate lead as a carcinogen, endocrine disruptor and toxic to reproduction, with no minimum exposure threshold. Irreversible mental handicaps in children, fertility problems, changes in thyroid hormones, worsening of breast cancer, high blood pressure, kidney damage, and so on: lead is a major enemy of human health. And yet lead is still present in old paintwork, foodstuffs, dyes, cosmetics, PVC pipes, electric batteries, concrete, toys and munitions.
The Notre-Dame fire triggered a national and, in some extent, international multi-pronged offensive against lead. The cathedral’s construction site was monitored more closely by the French Labour Inspectorate, under the watchful eye of civil society and the media. Three months after the fire, the courtyards of some schools located under the toxic cloud were decontaminated. The City of Paris has set up a Lead Plan Monitoring Committee and carried out an assessment of the capital’s childcare facilities: of the 79 establishments inspected in 2021 and 2022, 61 are exposed to lead risk due to deteriorated paintwork and dust on indoor floors or in playgrounds. The Ile-de-France Regional Agency for Health’s response and information system in the event of pollution peaks around sites or monuments that may emit lead dust has been improved. Mobilization against lead pollution following Notre-Dame fire consolidated the protests of local residents affected by pollution around the former Metaleurop site and the Exide factory in Lille in the North of France. The French High Council on Public Health, the Anses (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety) and the ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) have all come together to denounce the harmful effects of lead and call for restrictions on its use. The partnership initiated between the universities of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Columbia (New York) shows that France has a lot to learn from the US experience in terms of systematic screening of children and tap water for lead. Lastly, in September 2024, the French Senate’s ecologist group tabled a bill aimed at strengthening warning and prevention systems for lead poisoning and banning the use of lead sheeting in building work (1).
No, lead poisoning is not a disease of the past, and its consequences are major for the planet in the 21st century: today, 800 million children – 1 in 3 worldwide – are exposed to lead, and the South is paying a heavy price for this toxic burden, which affects all environments (2). A study led by the World Bank and published in the Lancet in October 2023 estimates that lead is responsible for at least 5 million deaths each year around the world, and puts the economic cost of this pollution at 6,000 billion dollars for 2019, or 7% of global GDP (3).
Together, we have created a nebula of information and vigilance around this poison, and given new vigour and visibility to scientific studies, investigations and alerts from institutional players.
We must not let this historic opportunity to denounce lead as a legal poison slip away. The pressure of major geopolitical issues in the international news must not overshadow the tragedy of chronic pollution. At a time when wars are roaring across Europe just a stone’s throw from Notre-Dame de Paris, let us remember the words of Clemenceau on the eve of the Great War: “Lead, white phosphorus and mercury kill no less than the machine gun of war” (4).
(1) Draft law no. 757 tabled by the ecologist group, Senate, 12 September 2024.
(2) Unicef/Pure Earth, report 2020, available here : https://www.unicef.org/media/73246/file/The-toxic-truth-children%E2%80%99s-exposure-to-lead-pollution-2020.pdf
(3) Larsen, Bjorn et al., “Global health burden and cost of lead exposure in children and adults: a health impact and economic modelling analysis”, The Lancet Planetary Health, Vol.7, 10, 831-840, October 2023.
(4) L’Aurore, 1904.
Link to Robin des Bois’ publications about Notre-Dame de Paris.
Imprimer cet article
