Exposure thresholds as economic institutions: living with chlordecone in the french west indies

Eric Kamwa ()
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Eric Kamwa: BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - AgroParisTech - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement

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Abstract: When pollution is effectively irreversible, environmental governance can no longer aim simply at restoration; it must organise coexistence between contaminated ecosystems and the people and economies embedded in them. This paper argues that, in such settings, the exposure threshold, the maximum residue limit, toxicological reference value or soil-contamination ceiling, becomes a central economic institution of governance. The argument is developed through the chlordecone contamination of Guadeloupe and Martinique, where an organochlorine insecticide used in banana cultivation from 1972 to 1993 still contaminates soils, food chains and bodies over a horizon measured in centuries. By reconstructing the chronology of regulatory thresholds, including the four national "Plans Chlordécone" (2008-2027), expert assessments, compensation mechanisms, and judicial rulings, this paper demonstrates that thresholds serve three simultaneous functions. First, they do not eliminate the risks they designate. Second, they establish a framework through which irreversible contamination becomes administratively and economically manageable. Third, they distribute the remaining pollution costs among producers, consumers, workers, the state, and affected territories. Framing thresholds as institutions in the context of institutional and ecological economics, as tools for commensuration, market regulation, and cost distribution, this paper proposes an approach termed Exposure Threshold Economics. This research program treats regulatory limits not merely as neutral reflections of toxicological data but as distributive mechanisms governing life in the presence of persistent pollution. It discusses the conditions under which this framework may apply to other contaminants such as PFAS, mercury, radionuclides, and legacy metals.

Keywords: Chlordecone; French West Indies; Irreversible pollution; Ecological distribution conflicts; Environmental justice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-01-05
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