Question 5406 — dangerous products

Summary

Mr. Manuel Bompard questions the Minister of Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, Forests, Sea and Fisheries on the policy she wishes to pursue to respond to the asbestos removal emergency in France. In almost general silence, ten citizens die every day due to exposure to asbestos. There are 3,000 to 5,000 deaths each year, making asbestos one of the country's health priorities. Asbestos could be responsible for 70,000 to 100,000 deaths between 2009 and 2050. This material causes various cancers of the lung, larynx, ovaries, pleura, etc. sometimes decades after exposure. 28 years after its ban in France, no less than 200,000 tonnes of friable asbestos (flocking, heat-insulating) and 20 million tonnes of bound asbestos (fibrocement, floor tiles, drainage pipes, etc.) are still present in all municipalities of France (schools, hospitals, buildings, agricultural buildings, public or private buildings, etc.). The report from the Bureau of Geological and Mining Research (BRGM) estimates the annual mass of asbestos waste between 400,000 and more than 900,000 tonnes. The unpredictable nature of asbestos contamination makes it a health time bomb for all French people who are confronted with the presence of asbestos. The question of asbestos removal is central and the MP is surprised that it is not taken care of as a national priority. And for good reason. In the country, there are millions of contaminated buildings (floor tiles, glues, plaster, putty, insulation, heat-insulating) whose users are in danger, millions of asbestos-based fiber cement roofs which spread the risk, during violent climatic events (hail, storm) or accidents (fires) and many other contaminated places (hospitals, factories, nuclear power plants, etc.). Firefighters responding to fires in asbestos buildings are not protected. The dispersion of fibers during fires endangers the lives of residents, sometimes even on a large scale as was the case during the fire at the Lubrizol factory building in Rouen: 9,000 m2 of roof went up in smoke and asbestos fibers found by local residents several kilometers around. Article L. 1334-16-2 of the Public Health Code provides that “if the population is exposed to asbestos fibers resulting from human activity, the representative of the State in the department may, in the event of a serious danger to health, order, within deadlines that he sets, the implementation of measures to assess and stop the exposure”. But this type of incident can happen throughout the national territory, to the extent that almost half of the asbestos technical files (DTA) are not up to date in educational establishments, but also to the extent that part of the population is often unaware of the presence of asbestos or lacks information on the instructions to follow in the event of the presence of asbestos. Consequently, the reflex to report asbestos pollution is rare. It should also be added to this the exorbitant cost of asbestos removal which pushes some individuals to do it on their own, without precaution for their health and their environment and can lead to evacuations to illegal dumps. The MP would like to know what actions the prefectures are taking to identify the aforementioned cases of contamination and to support individuals in asbestos removal work. The Paris prefecture has implemented place, in 2022, an “asbestos cell” to ensure compliance with asbestos regulations, particularly with regard to asbestos diagnostics planned for buildings, spaces open to the public and individuals, but also to collect reports. The State representative in the department has a role of control and sanction with regard to the risk of inhaling asbestos in buildings. So that this role is completed on the national territory, the MP wishes to know the Government's desire to monitor the effectiveness of this approach and to generalize this “asbestos cell” system. If this is not the case, he would like to know how the Government intends to guarantee the effectiveness of the control of diagnoses and the work to be carried out. In 2023, the documentary “Vert de rage” broadcast by France 5 revealed that among the schools having responded to a survey, 5,507 still contained asbestos materials, representing nearly 709,000 students potentially exposed. Faced with this alarming situation, the local authorities, designated by the Ministry of National Education as responsible, are often helpless, not having the financial resources to undertake such a project. Here again, national planning is missing. And for good reason, 2020, after 25 years of existence, the National Observatory for Safety and Accessibility (ONS) in educational establishments was abolished. It benefited from a certain democratic legitimacy due to the presence of elected officials designated by the National Assembly, the Senate and local authorities within it. In 2023, the “school building” unit attached to the Ministry of National Education circulated a questionnaire to public and private educational establishments under contract and centralized the responses concerning DTA and the presence of asbestos. The temporary results were presented by the ministry during an asbestos study group on November 20, 2024: “The DTA is only present in half of the schools and establishments in the panel, while it is compulsory for each building for which the building permit has been issued before July 1, 1997. 65.6% of responding schools and establishments reported the presence of asbestos materials. This survey also revealed that periodic controls are very insufficient (76% not carried out or not informed) even though it is these controls which will determine whether there are proven risks. The MP wishes to know when the Government will present the results to the national representation of this national survey launched in 2023 and which has so far only received a 56% response rate. He asks him if the Government intends to allocate specific funding to communities to accelerate the completion of asbestos removal work in schools; more generally, it asks the Government about the national strategy that it intends to implement in the face of the health risk that threatens schools.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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