One student out of 5, one inhabitant out of 10 and 15% of the workers present in the vicinity of the chemical plant AZF when the explosion occurred in September 2001 have reported some kind of injury or health problem. These findings have just been released by a survey carried out by the INVS, the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance.

The health of 2,121 students, 13,764 workers or rescuers and 1,191 adults was closely investigated for a period of 5 years. According to the study, 7% of the inhabitants who lived near the plant were still suffering from hearing disorders 18 months after the accident. The explosion also caused psychological disorders to the population. In the aftermath of the accident, 5,600 inhabitants were having psychological counselling because of serious stress and some were taking psychotropic drugs.

The AZF explosion, which occurred on 21 September 2001, caused the death of 30 workers and injured more than 2,500 persons.