April 2019 – The cathedral burns, the crowds admire, the lead sprays, the wood cracks, the hawks flee, the politicians process on the forecourt.
December 2024 – The cathedral opens on schedule thanks to the soldiers of lead and oak. It looks like a ballroom. Soon, it will be hosting fashion shows. While the Agence Régionale de Santé (Regional Health Agency) has a lead barometer around Notre-Dame, inside the cathedral the lead figures remain in the confessional. However, the lead levels inside and outside the cathedral should all be available to the public. Long-term monitoring of the remobilisation of lead residues dispersed during the fire and during the clearing and reconstruction work is essential.
Lead-contaminated waste in big bags on the scaffolding at Notre-Dame, November 28, 2022 © Charlotte Nithart /Robin des Bois
- Notre-Dame fire: a useful disaster.
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.
Publications from Robin des Bois
- Ile de la Cité : a new polluted site in Paris (press release n°1), April 19, 2019.
After the melting of at least 300 tons of lead in the gables of the spire and in the roof, Notre-Dame de Paris is now a polluted site. (…)
Following the publication of this press release and the article in Le Figaro entitled ‘ An environmental NGO is calling for Notre-Dame to be “decontaminated”’, we unleashed a torrent of insults, offset by a few streams of common sense (pdf in French only).
– - Letters sent to different ministers and state services, plus AirParif, and message received from Professor Michael Anderson of Manchester University. April 23, 2019
– - Our Lead-y Notre Dame (press release n°2), April 29, 2019.
The screed that had fallen on the ruined cathedral cracked Saturday, April 27, 2019 after the release of a statement co-signed by the Regional Health Agency of Ile-de-France, the prefect police station and the prefecture of Ile-de-France. The three signatories confirm lead pollution attributed to the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris. (…)
–– - On 26 July 2019, Robin des Bois lodged a complaint against X for failure to implement general police measures (protection of the population against the risk of lead poisoning), failure to implement the obligation to inform the population and workers and deliberately endangering others.
– - Paris lead(er) instead of Paris-Plage (press release n°3), August 5, 2019.
The lead is spinning around the cathedral. The dust flew away from their stony nests and the 4000 scaffolding tubes that leaned against the collapsed spire. Lead is everywhere and it is not displayed anywhere. (…)
– - Notre-Dame, (press release n°4), August 14, 2019.
The Ministry of Culture, owner of Notre-Dame de Paris, has confirmed the shaky condition of the vault and flying buttresses of the cathedral. The scaffolding, which is covered with lead dusts and has until then withstood the collapse of the spire and the aftermath of the fire, is also under threat of downfall. (…)
– - Notre-Dame, (press release n°5), August 26, 2019.
A family whose 3 children are enrolled in the Sainte-Clotilde school, on the 77 rue de Grenelle in Paris, 7th district, summons the headteacher and the diocesan direction for catholic education in Paris for a summary procedure in order to have them check the lead surface concentration (…).
– - All the roads lead to school (press release n°6 with map), August 27, 2019.
The information very recently circulated by City hall is not reliable. Only the three schools on the rue Saint-Benoît were subjected to a “treatment protocol” carried out by professionals and monitored by health and safety inspection. (…)
– - Notre-Dame de Paris, (press release n°7), August 30, 2019.
According to information we just received, the special needs education division (Section d’Enseignement Général et Professionnel Adapté, SEGPA) of the Jacques Prévert secondary school, on the rue du Pont de Lodi (Paris, 6th district), will not reopen due to lead contamination. (…)
– - The scandal of the special needs education school Jacques Prévert on the rue du Pont de Lodi, Paris 6th district (press release n°8), September 2, 2019.
Schoolchildren receive there an individualised education. They have difficulties with the learning process. (…)
– - The lead makes itself at home (press release n°9), September 4, 2019.
The entrance to the nursery school’s garden at the 17 rue de Verneuil in the 7th district is closed until further notice. (…)
– - Notre-Dame de Paris, a lead blast (press release n°10, with maps), October 18, 2019.
The Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles (DRAC, Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs) carries out a test campaign in Paris to assess the distribution of lead dust in the streets near historical monuments. (…)
– - The lead ball (press release n°11), February 7, 2020.
This press release concerns the decontamination of the archaeological crypt, the decontamination of the forecourt, the dismantling of the scaffolding and the lead contamination of public spaces.
– - One year on, Notre-Dame de Paris has not risen from the ashes (press release n°12), April 15, 2020.
The cathedral remains in a precarious state. It is a permanent source of pollution from lead dust and other metalloids released by the fire. The scaffolding that encircled the cathedral spire is still in place. It too is a major source of lead dust remobilisation. (…)
– - The sin of lead (press release n°13), June 2, 2020.
During mass on Sunday 31 May 2020, the holy trinity made up of the City Hall, the Archbishop’s Palace and the Ministry of Culture preached to the press about the relics on the damaged square in front of Notre-Dame de Paris. (…)
– - Cathedral fires (press release n°14), July 18, 2020.
Press release following the fire at Saint-Pierre and Saint-Paul cathedral in Nantes.
– - Les sans-chênes (press release n°15, only in French), March 18, 2021.
– - The leaded Notre-Dame’s square (press release n°16), Mai 18, 2021.
On Friday 14 May 2021, the Agence Régionale de Santé (Regional Health Agency) issued a press release stating that an increase in lead levels in the forecourt of Notre-Dame de Paris had been detected since 26 April. (…)
– - Plainte Notre-Dame de Paris – Désignation d’une juge d’instruction +rectificatif (press release n°17, only in French), 28-29 September 2021.
– - On 27 April 2022, announcement of the conference ‘Paris-New York, New York-Paris, Decreasing Children’s Exposure to Lead’ organised by Lex van Geen, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (Columbia University) and Institute Science Visitor and Brian Mailloux, Barnard College (Columbia University). Guest speaker Jacky Bonnemains of Robin des Bois spoke on ‘How the Notre-Dame de Paris fire brought the lead issue back to the fore’.
– - Under the paving stones the lead, on the paving stones the asphalt (press release n°18), July 5, 2022. Update May 1st, 2023.
The Maurice Carême promenade (150 metres long, 4 metres wide) between Notre-Dame and the Seine will be disfigured. (…)
© CN/Robin des Bois
© CN/Robin des Bois
Garden of the Nueve Fighters, closed for “renewal work” following a campaign to measure pollution by heavy metals including lead,
September 23, 2019 © CN/Robin des Bois
© CN/Robin des Bois
September 4, 2019 © CN/Robin des Bois
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