Long-term pollution by chlordecone of tropical volcanic soils in the French West Indies: A simple leaching model accounts for current residue

Abstract

Chlordecone was applied between 1972 and 1993 in banana fields of the French West Indies. This resulted in long-term pollution of soils and contamination of waters, aquatic biota, and crops. To assess pollution level and duration according to soil type, WISORCH, a leaching model based on first-order desorption kinetics, was developed and run. Its input parameters are soil organic carbon content (SOC) and SOC/water partitioning coefficient (K(oc)). It accounts for current chlordecone soil contents and drainage water concentrations. The model was valid for andosol, which indicates that neither physico-chemical nor microbial degradation occurred. Dilution by previous deep tillages makes soil scrapping unrealistic. Lixiviation appeared the main way to reduce pollution. Besides the SOC and rainfall increases, K(oc) increased from nitisol to ferralsol and then andosol while lixiviation efficiency decreased. Consequently, pollution is bound to last for several decades for nitisol, centuries for ferralsol, and half a millennium for andosol.

Organochlorine pollution in tropical rivers (Guadeloupe): Role of ecological factors in food web bioaccumulation

“…As lixiviation appeared to be the main way to reduce pollution in soils (Cabidoche et al, 2009), the contamination of rivers is bound to last for decades or even centuries, and public education will play a central role in decreasing the risk for the population to be contaminated.…”

“…Since their introduction in the 1950s in Guadeloupe (Caribbean), OC pesticides have been extensively used on agricultural lands. Though they were banned from usage in the 1990s, these toxic and persistent molecules are still highly present in soils, especially in the most cultivated areas, in the south of Basse-Terre (Cabidoche et al, 2009). Concentrations reaching 10 mg kg -1 of chlordecone (Kepone ® ), the most worrying OC residue in Guadeloupe, were measured in soils more than ten years after the last agricultural spreading (Cabidoche et al, 2004).…”

Effects of chlordecone on 20-hydroxyecdysone concentration and chitobiase activity in a decapod crustacean, Macrobrachium rosenbergii

“…Moreover, in 2009, CLD was included in the Stockholm Convention on POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) and its production and use were banned worldwide (Zaldívar and Baraibar, 2011). Nowadays, CLD is still present in soils, especially in the densely cultivated areas from south of Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe) (Cabidoche et al, 2009). Although, Fernández-Bayo et al (2013) showed the existence of CLD degrading organisms in a tropical soil (andosol) microcosm under aerobic conditions, CLD undergoes no significant or quick biotic or abiotic degradation (Dolfing et al, 2012;Levillain et al, 2012).…”

“…The most worrying organochlorine pesticide residue in Guadeloupe (FWI) is chlordecone (CLD) (Coat et al, 2011). CLD is an insecticide that was commonly employed to control the banana weevil Cosmopolites sordidus from 1972 to 1993 under the trade name Kepone ® or Curlone ® (Cabidoche et al, 2006(Cabidoche et al, , 2009. A few years after the use of CLD, widespread pollution of soils, rivers, wild animals and aquatic organisms was reported (Cavelier, 1980;Snegaroff, 1977), which led to the prohibition of the use of this pesticide in Guadeloupe in 1993.…”

Solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for quantitative determination of chlordecone in water, plant and soil samples

“…In the past, chlordecone (IUPAC name decachloropentacyclo [5.3.0.0 2,6 .0 3,9 .0 4,8 ] decan-5-one), an organochlorine insecticide, was widely used to control the banana black weevil in the French West Indies (FWI), and became a major soil and water contaminant [1], including sea biota [2]. Due to chronic exposure, this environmental pollutant is potentially dangerous for human health [3][4][5].…”