Overview
- The criminal court in Nancy, which on Tuesday declined to order fresh pollution analyses, kept the case on its week-long schedule and will decide on any new expert work in its final ruling.
- A day earlier, the judge threw out most of the prosecution’s lab evidence over a procedural flaw, wiping key microplastic measurements and engineering reports from the record.
- Testifying Wednesday, Nestlé’s lab chief said company-commissioned tests on the boreholes used for Vittel, Contrex and Hépar found no microplastic pollution and cited an internal limit of eight particles per liter.
- Environmental groups and the prosecutor pressed for independent sampling to measure microplastics, the defense called that a bid to stall, and an anti-corruption group warned the case could fail because of procedural errors.
- Nestlé Waters Supply Est is charged with managing more than 473,000 cubic meters of plastic waste in alleged illegal dumps near four Vosges towns and with letting microplastics reach waterways at levels the indictment says threaten aquatic life and health.