PARIS, France (AFP) — French lawmakers on Tuesday recognised the state’s partial responsibility in allowing a toxic pesticide to be used in the French West Indies despite health warnings, inflicting long-term harm on the islands and their people.

Chlordecone, also known under the brand name Kepone, is a pesticide that was widely used to eliminate weevils in banana plantations in France’s former colonies turned overseas territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique from 1972 until 1993.

France banned its use on the mainland in 1990, but allowed its continued use on the Caribbean islands until 1993.