A project funded by ANR Pericles was launched

What are the effects of pesticides on human health This is a topic which this powder. It is the theme chosen by the parliamentary Office for evaluation of scientific and technological choices (Opecst). Hearings of experts have begun, and the announced objective is ambitious: "Illuminating the elect in a climate of anxiety and mistrust." Jean-Claude Etienne, Senator of the Marne, physician and rapporteur of the project, also wants to get out of the logic that makes the France "champion of the intuitive political decision." In other words: it must meet scientifically established facts, and nothing else. "These are the most alarmist reports that collect the most echo." "But is not always the scientific truth that prevails, because it is disrupted by the emotion," said the Senator.

The commission will study the six media containing residues of plant protection products: surface water, groundwater and coastal, soils, atmospheric and domestic air. Available balance sheets are far from satisfactory. 37 To surface waters are considered "average or bad" and one-quarter of underground waters are in the same category. Pesticides of agricultural origin (essentially the herbicide glyphosate) are the main cause of decommissioning. The insecticide lindane (banned in France and more than 50 countries) is always present in groundwater and is found in high concentration in some soils highly loaded (including in the Pas-de-Calais). Coastal areas and estuaries are contaminated with atrazine (another herbicide banned since 2003). Air pollution is better known and more seasonal, as related to agricultural activities. "We have a thousand of measurement in France sites and we detected the presence of 114 different substances," reports Martin Guespereau, Director General of the French Association of safety of the environment and the workplace (Afsset). According to Florence Coignard, researcher at the national Institute for sanitary Watch (InVS), it is not possible to highlight a health driving linked to pesticides, except for some overexposed agricultural populations.

Blue flag of pollution

But it is ultimately the place where we spend the most time is less well known: the House. "We spend 85 of our interior life," recalls the Afsset DG. Domestic air is polluted by pesticides (antifourmis, anticafards) and by the "leaching" of solvents contained in the furniture or some building materials. Except, these products are present at low doses but it is their association which poses problem. "We have no data for the cocktails of plant protection products", explains Martin Guespereau. The Afsset to conduct a mapping of the communes of France pesticides impregnation. These works could start in 2010 and lead to a "blue flag" of the environmental quality. The Agence française de sécurité sanitaire aliments (Afssa) contemplates his side further measurements of chemical residues in fruits and vegetables "as consumed". A project funded by ANR (Pericles) was launched. The investigation of the Opecst should be published this fall. As always, these studies encountered the difficulty to assess the health threat induced by low exposure to a pollutant. Several associations for very strict regulation of the use of the plant took the lead in advising that "steps of demonstration of the risk did not mean no risk."