Jean-Claude Destailleur, mayor of Halluin, wants a cancer registry to be launched as well as analyzes of breast milk.
An abnormally high number of cancer patients in the northern town of Halluin. The mayor, Jean-Claude Destailleur, was recently arrested “by very many people with cancer, especially young people, sometimes young girls”, he explains this Thursday on the antenna of BFM Grand Lille.
A medical specialist, gastroenterologist, also contacted the mayor last week after having “noted among his patients, in the municipalities of Neuville, Roncq and Halluin, an abnormally high number of cancers”.
About fifty cases
According to Jean-Claude Destailleur, “about fifty people are referenced” as suffering from cancer within the municipality. However, the mayor calls for “measurement” in the face of this situation and has contacted the Regional Health Agency (ARS) to carry out an epidemiological study and request the opening of a cancer register.
“It’s simply a feeling that we have, we need a reliable statistical tool”, he continues while the ARS must contact him again “within a fortnight”.
“There are two scenarios. Either Halluin is in the metropolitan average, in which case it will be reassuring. If, on the other hand, our feelings were to be proven and if we came to the conclusion that the number of cancers was more raised in our commune than in the rest of the Metropolis, this would involve an in-depth study and real investigations to see the origin”, explains Jean-Claude Destailleur.
pollutants in the air
The mayor of Halluin put forward several hypotheses that could explain the development of more numerous cases of cancer in his municipality. “We know some places that are polluting places,” he says, recalling that a Seveso-classified company recently closed its doors.
The presence of energy recovery center on the town is also mentioned concerning the emission of pollutants. “The old Halluin incinerator emitted large quantities of dioxin, the carcinogenic nature of which is proven”, recalls Jean-Claude Destailleur, adding that the new center which replaced the incinerator “emits much less pollutants”.
However, he points out that “the incinerator burns 350,000 tonnes of waste per year” so “there are legitimate questions that arise”, he notes, not wanting “to make any accusations against any structure”.
Breast milk tests
“It is really urgent to tackle this problem head-on,” says the mayor of Halluin, who also wants breast milk analyzes to be carried out in the town.
“We are thinking of setting up a series of analyzes of breast milk. This has never been done”, indicates the mayor of Halluin at the microphone of BFM Grand Lille.
Jean-Claude Destailleur remembers the dioxin pollution linked to the old incinerator which had led to the slaughter of a “cattle herd” located nearby because “the milk from the cows was not suitable for consumption”.
The Halluin 3R association recalls, on his website, that the “atmospheric discharges” from the old incinerator “have heavily polluted the surrounding agricultural land, intended mainly for cattle breeding”. Since then, the surrounding land, around the new energy recovery center, remains “uncultivated even today”.