On August 16, the Montreal Heart Institute published a study that highlighted the dangers of exposure to chlordecone on heart health. This widely reported study highlighted the complexity of research around this molecule, as it divides researchers.
Chlordecone may promote the onset of heart problems, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Montreal Heart Institute published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials. This research, conducted under the direction of Dr. Roddy Hiram, originally from Guadeloupe, demonstrated that prolonged ingestion of chlordecone, via drinking water, “is associated with cardiac inflammation, thereby increasing vulnerability to cardiac arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation“.
But this hypothesis is not to everyone’s taste. Epidemiologist Luc Multigner, a specialist in the question of chlordecone, calls for caution: “When communicating with the West Indian population who are suffering in their blood from environmental pollution by chlordecone and the health consequences that go with it, making them swallow information that can lead to additional anxiety, I find that inappropriate. This is not how we do public health..”
For Luc Multigner, research director at Inserm, the information released in this press release does not specify that the study was conducted on rats and not on humans.As far as I know, rats are not humans.” he reacts.
No aspect of our methodology is hidden.
The researcher of Guadeloupean origin supports the approach taken by his laboratory, particularly with regard to the tests carried out on rats and not on human beings.We are scientists, we work at the clinical level. We use translational models, that is to say that at each stage of the demonstration, we look at how it can be transposed to the human being.” he explains.
Despite his remarks, Luc Multigner still considers that this study is interesting because it provides some leads, but he believes that they could have gone further in their approach.
The next step would be to test the hypothesis that exposure to chlordecone would be harmful to humans. But for this, epidemiological studies on human populations are needed to confirm or deny things.
According to Roddy Hiram, testing chlordecone by administering it to humans would be unethical given the dangerousness of this molecule. Dr. Hiram therefore supports the importance of the experimental models he developed in his study and also proposes the prospect of carrying out additional tests: “What would be interesting is to go and see people who have been exposed to chlordecone and see to what extent they develop heart rhythm disorders..”
“We have opened a path, now it is a question of exploring it further“, rejoices Roddy Hiram. These two opposing visions show all the complexity that exists to date in research on chlordecone and its effects on health such as prostate cancer, fertility disorders and fetal and perinatal anomalies.
