Against SDHI fungicides, there is an emergency, scientists repeat. Two associations, Future Generations and We Want Poppies, are therefore demanding this Tuesday the ban on three of these products widely used in agriculture but also on sports fields ...
“Technically, we are sending a letter to request the withdrawal of the marketing authorizations for the Keynote (Bayer), Librax (BASF) and Aviator X pro (Bayer), specifies François Lafforgue. These products have the distinction of combining all the harmful effects of fungicides from the SDHI family. "
"There is an urgent need to protect populations"
If the ANSES (National Food Safety Agency) answers no, the associations will have two months to attack before the administrative court in Lyon, where the headquarters of these companies are located. "We do not hope so, there is an urgent need to protect populations," continues the lawyer, who has already attacked two other pesticides (Closer and Transform). They ended up being withdrawn from the market.
A platform signed by 400 scientists, published this Tuesday in the daily newspaper Le Monde, supports their request. Researchers have been sounding the alarm against these substances for two years now after discovering that succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors - SDHI for short - attack the respiratory function of fungi that destroy crops without making any difference ( that's their role) but also that of earthworms, bees and humans!
“ANSES was warned but it turned a deaf ear before sending pseudo-experts. Today, she continues to deny the danger, ”regrets Fabrice Nicolino, who leads the movement We want poppies. "According to the studies that we have carried out in the laboratory, the use of these new generation fungicides leads to the death of human cells, in particular in people who already have problems with cellular respiration, Alzheimer's patients or ataxia from Friedrich, for example, ”points out Professor Pierre Rustin, a CNRS researcher who initiated the alert.
ANSES calls for vigilance
“In the laboratory the effects are terrifying. But given the very complex functioning of mitochondrial diseases, we cannot say whether there will ultimately be little impact on the use of SDHI or, on the contrary, if we are going to face a health disaster. , recognizes the scientist. This is a textbook case in the application of the precautionary principle. "
Contacted on Monday, ANSES replied by email that it had concluded "the absence of a health alert that could lead to the withdrawal of marketing authorizations". But that she remains attentive and still "launched a call for vigilance at European and international level", stressing "the need to strengthen research". The agency, which notably released € 450,000 to finance research work, mobilized its experts for new studies. The first results are expected "in the first half of 2020".
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“It's so slow, sighs François Veillerette, director of the association Générations Futures. Regulatory testing procedures do not keep pace with advances in science quickly enough. For this activist, this time lag is "at the expense of public health".