chlordecone

[ klawr-di-kohn, klohr- ]

noun

1. a highly toxic pesticide, C 10 H 10 O, causing nerve damage in humans, that is believed to contaminate waterways: no longer widely used.

Word History and Origins

Origin of chlordecone¹

First recorded in 1970–75; chlor- ² + dec- + (ket)one

Example Sentences

However, chlordecone was legally marketed in France from 1981 until the government banned it in 1990, and its use continued for three more years after that in Guadeloupe and Martinique to kill the banana weevil under an exemption granted by the French government.

From Seattle Times

Among a variety of ailments, chlordecone is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, and these islanders suffer prostate cancer at among the highest rates in the world, French cancer researchers say.

From Seattle Times

Other French research links chlordecone exposure to preterm births.

From Seattle Times

But they also asserted that even in the 1990s, scientists had not established links between chlordecone and illnesses in people.

From Seattle Times

Chlordecone, also known as kepone, was patented in the 1950s by scientists working for Allied Chemical, a U.S. company based in New Jersey now called Allied Corporation, and millions of pounds of the pesticide were produced, nearly all of it exported for use outside the United States.

From Seattle Times