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Pesticides: ANSES launches a vast investigation into the contamination of vineyard residents

2021-10-19T04:04:14.681Z


Samples of urine, hair, vegetables from the garden ... the National Agency for Sanitary Security and Public Health France launch this Tuesday


April 2014. For the first time in France, environmental activists have an independent laboratory appraised the locks of hair of thirty students aged 3 to 10 years.

Objective: to measure the level of impregnation with pesticides of these children living or going to school in agricultural areas.

On average, twenty-one pesticide residues are then detected on each wick according to the results unveiled by the association Future generations, which considered that schoolchildren were exposed to a real "chemical soup".

Seven years later, the French health authorities finally decided to carry out the same type of analysis, but on a much larger scale.

From this Tuesday, 1,500 French households residing in wine-growing areas will be invited to participate in a study to measure their level of exposure to pesticides.

1,500 adults and 750 children selected at random will notably be subjected to urine and hair samples.

Analyzing the hair is a technique known among forensic scientists to detect traces of poisoning.

Read alsoPesticides: France is consuming more and more

This unprecedented operation in France, called “Pestiriv”, is led by Public Health France and the National Health Security Agency (ANSES).

Six regions, reputed to be land of wines and where phytosanitary products are widely used in the heart of the grape varieties, are targeted: Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Grand-Est, the Paca region, Auvergne-Rhône- Alps and Burgundy.

750 adults, 350 children, 250 study areas ...

"There are more and more scientific facts relating to the health impact of pesticides, but we have relatively little data on residents of wine-growing areas", explains Sébastien Denys, Director of Health-Environment-Work at Public Health France. . "The main objective is to know if there is a difference between the exposure to pesticides of people living near vineyards and those living far from any crop," add the two public bodies.

To measure this difference, samples will also be taken from the homes of 750 adults and 350 children who do not live near vineyards.

No less than 250 study areas are planned.

In addition to hair and urine analyzes, analyzes of outdoor air, dust inside houses and samples of fruits and vegetables grown in residents' gardens will be added.

Local residents of vineyards who have increased mobilizations on the ground in recent years to demand better protection from chemical spraying near their homes or their children's school.

VIDEO.

Pesticides in wine: warning, danger?

“If we chose to focus our survey on wine-growing areas, it is because they are among the crops that use the most phytosanitary products, underlines Ohri Yamada, head of phytopharmacovigilance at ANSES.

And because the houses are often very intertwined with the plots of vines.

"

"It took ten years for the public authorities to launch this study"

If the Ministry of Health seized the organization Public Health France to conduct this investigation, it is also, explains Sébastien Denys, because “exposure to pesticides is an increasingly important local concern on the part of residents. ".

"When we spoke about this subject, fifteen years ago, at the Ministry of Agriculture, we were told that there was no subject, recalls François Veillerette, spokesperson for the environmental association Future generations. .

We have since obtained small victories, with the introduction of spray-free zones near houses, but, since our first alerts, it took ten years for the public authorities to finally launch this study.

"

Read alsoFruits and vegetables: we swallow more pesticides than we thought

The urine and hair samples will begin within a few days and will take place at two different periods: from October 2021 to February 2022, when the treatments of the vines with plant protection products are the least frequent. Then from March to August 2022, when spraying on grapes is most frequent. To find out whether residents are not exposed to other sources of pollutants at home (insecticide bombs, food, water, etc.) or at their workplace, questionnaires will be sent out to better understand their lifestyle. Investigators will also visit the homes of households participating in the study.

"Our ambition is to do a lot of analyzes, to collect all the possible data, to document the state of exposure of the population living near the vineyards in order to then inform public decision", summarizes Sébastien Denys.

The associations that have been fighting for years against pesticides and exposed residents will nevertheless have to arm themselves with patience before obtaining the final result of this colossal study.

Between the collection, processing and analysis of the data, Public Health France and ANSES do not plan to publish their results before ... 2024.

Source: leparis

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