Families settled in the Plaine d'Aunis, near La Rochelle, in Charente-Maritime, have opened their vegetable gardens to measure the presence of pesticides.
This initiative was financed by donations following a 100% citizen mobilization.
“43% of the analyzes reveal pesticides, 29% of the samples exceed the maximum residue limit, the MRL”, reveal Julie Méric and Christophe Friand with reference to the regulatory concentration threshold for pesticides beyond which a food product can no longer be marketed.
Two weeks after having collected seven samples of vegetables from individuals (an eighth sample could not be analyzed for lack of means. The other vegetable gardens selected are in the communes of Chassagné, La Jarne, Périgny, and Saint-Médard-d' Aunis), these two members of the PLFP collective (For the end of prosulfocarb) delivered on Tuesday the results of analyzes financed by donations and entrusted to an independent laboratory.
“We found four different molecules: prosulfocarb, aclonifien, chlortoluron and metaldehyde, they detail.
Prosulfocarb and chlortoluron […] exceed the maximum residue limit by 4 and 1.5 times respectively.
These two herbicides were not detected on agricultural plots but on... parsley and cabbage planted in vegetable gardens located in Montroy and Saint-Christophe, two towns in the Aunis plain, at the gates of La Rochelle .
“It is very worrying.
For us, for everyone,” says Véronique Tourneur.
This retiree living in Montroy and Didier, her husband, had opened their doors to the PLFP collective.
They call for further study
“Never treated”, their vegetable garden adjoins fields.
Their parsley, garnished with prosulfocarb, turns out to be unfit for consumption.
A shock: “The sample was taken a few days after spreading.
I thought the results would be lower... Change?
I don't know: if I buy vegetables elsewhere, it could be worse,” she breathes.
Julie Méric and Christophe Friand call for them, "to awaken consciences" in the face of this "strong alert".
All the vegetable gardens selected for these tests are located between 2 and 300 meters from the nearest agricultural plot.
Aware of the weakness of their sample, "a partial photo at a time T", they demand "a much more thorough study" and "recurring analyzes" in the plain of Aunis.