Lubrizol fire: a vast epidemiological investigation launched Tuesday on more than 5,000 people
Did the fire at the Lubrizol factory, on the night of September 25 to 26, 2019, have any impact on the health of the inhabitants of the Rouen conurbation? To determine this, Public Health France announced on Monday August 31 that a large epidemiological study will be launched on Tuesday “to describe the health and quality of life of the population” following the spectacular fire at the chemical plant.
Nearly 10,000 tonnes of chemicals had burned on the Lubrizol site and on that of its neighbor Normandie Logistique. A 22 km long cloud of black smoke had formed. For several weeks or even months after the accident, residents of the Rouen metropolitan area complained of odors emanating from the site but also of symptoms such as headaches or vomiting. In mid-August, the residents of the factory had thus noted an increase in bad odors and hydrocarbon-like fumes, reported France 3 Normandy.
This survey will be carried out among 5,200 inhabitants of Seine-Maritime selected at random, to analyze the “fire perception” by the population and “the impact on his health”, said the health agency, which had mentioned the launch of this study in early June.
“4,000 adults and 1,200 children” of 122 municipalities in this department will be invited to answer an online or telephone questionnaire, in order to collect “information on their perception of this industrial disaster and their exposure to the nuisances and pollution it generated, on the symptoms and health problems that may have been experienced during the accident and its consequences, as well as on their state of current health “. The study will also interview 1,000 adults and 250 children living in Le Havre and its surroundings, the “control zone”.
“The first results of the study will be available at the end of 2020-beginning of 2021”, adds Public Health France, specifying that “this survey is part of a set of epidemiological studies set up (…) to assess the overall impact on health, in the medium and long term, of this large-scale industrial accident”, baptized “Santé Post Incendie 76”.
In early June, the Senate commission of inquiry into the disaster published a report denouncing health monitoring “late and incomplete” and a lack of “risk culture in France”.
The plant partially restarted in mid-December. It was authorized in mid-July to significantly increase its activity by the Seine-Maritime prefecture, which considered that the reduction in the quantities stored and the security measures undertaken allowed “to limit the probability and consequences of a fire”.