Pesticides, Vines and Health: What the New PestiRiv Study Doesn't Say
ANSES and Santé Publique France conducted extensive investigations and spent 11 million euros on the PestiRiv study. The conclusion: residents living near vineyards are more exposed to plant protection products… Not a word about the risks incurred by the people concerned.
"This is a study that will satisfy no one. Neither the winegrowers nor the environmental associations," the owner of Château de Malle in Preignac, a grand cru classé in Sauternes, had bet a few days before the presentation of PestiRiv's conclusions. The Gironde winegrower's prediction was correct. On Monday, September 15, at the Ministry of Health, the string of scientists from the French National Agency for Food Safety (ANSES) and Public Health France (SPF) lifted the veil on the study that had the vineyards of France in general, and those of Bordeaux and Cognac in particular, trembling.
Are people living near vineyards really in danger and can they catch cancer? The answer was awaited by the entire wine industry, associations, the 4% of the French population who live within 200 meters of a vineyard, and all those who dream of a "green" French agriculture, nourishing and profitable. The government services only confirmed what everyone already suspected: "Exposure to pesticides is generally higher for people living near vineyards."
3-6 year olds most affectedInvestigators looked for the presence of 56 phytosanitary products used in conventional or organic viticulture: folpel (fungicide against mildew), metiram, glyphosate, fosetyl aluminum, spiroxamine, pyrethroids , copper, sulfur. The famous neonicotinoid of the Duplomb law, acetamiprid used in other crops, was not targeted. Six wine-growing regions, 265 sites, nearly 3,000 people including 750 children and 300 winegrowers, were scrutinized. The air in homes, hair, urine and dust from vacuum cleaners, etc. Even the vegetables in the garden were sent to the laboratory. This field study was supplemented by questionnaires to determine the sources of additional impregnation.
Several pieces of evidence have been confirmed: "Pesticide exposure and contamination levels are higher during the vineyard treatment period," "exposure increases when the distance between housing and the vineyard decreases and when the quantity of pesticides used increases." Some data should fuel fears: the impregnation rate is higher for 3-6 year olds. "This is explained by children's lifestyle. They are in contact with the ground, they touch objects, put their hands in their mouths." Note that copper, widely used in organic farming, is found in most of the samples.
Some tips: take off your shoes when you enter your home, mop the floor of your house once a week, limit the consumption of eggs from domestic chicken coops and dry your laundry inside.
The main point has not been revealed: "PestiRiv does not provide information on the health status of populations, nor does it allow for the determination of health risks associated with exposure," admit the study's leaders. This is not enough to dispel doubts or resolve a debate that has become more ideological than scientific. Nor is it enough to propose a clear new roadmap for the wine industry. "PestiRiv is not intended to provide information to establish safety distances," agree ANSES and Santé publique France. No current plant protection products will be withdrawn from the market.
An 11 million euro studyThe PestiRiv leaders have offered a few recommendations: "limit the use of phytosanitary products to what is strictly necessary, inform residents before treatments, and continue research." They advise residents of wine-growing regions to "take off their shoes when entering their homes, mop their floors once a week, limit the consumption of eggs from domestic chicken coops, and dry their laundry indoors." They make a wish: "We are calling for the actual availability of data on the use of phytosanitary products. A national, accessible, and regularly updated database would make it possible to clarify the links between actual applications and transfers into the environment. And thus to better understand the exposure of local residents."
What about the overexposure of vineyard professionals, the distinction between organic and conventional, the presence of other banned pesticides, the comparison between wine-growing areas, the impregnation of infants, and, above all, risk assessment? Not a word about this in the conclusions of PestiRiv, whose bill amounts to 11 million euros. Further research will be needed to try to answer these questions.
