"What more is needed to act?": the dangers of being near treated vines proven

If you live within 500 meters of a vineyard treated with plant protection products , you are more exposed to pesticides than other French people. This is the main conclusion of the Pestiriv survey published Monday. A study conducted over the past four years by Public Health France and the French Food Safety Agency (ANSES) in six major wine-producing regions.

According to this study, the higher the quantity of product used, the greater the exposure of local residents. This exposure decreases the further one moves away from the vineyards. This study compares the level of pesticide exposure in wine-growing and non-wine-growing areas. Among people who live a few hundred meters from a vineyard, or 4% of the French population, the pesticide concentration is up to 45% higher in urine. This is particularly true among children aged 3 to 6.

This exposure is more intense during crop treatment periods, from March to August, and concerns multiple substances, including folpel and glyphosate.

ANSES and Santé Publique France recommend limiting the use of these products to what is strictly necessary. They also plan to assess the health risks associated with this overexposure later. The study also advises residents living near wine-growing areas to clean their homes regularly and peel the fruits and vegetables in their gardens.

The results of this study alarm residents of wine-growing areas near Bordeaux, like these parents in Blasimon in Gironde.

“The numbers speak for themselves; we didn't think it would be this high. But what can we do? It's still alarming because we're in a time where we know how to do things differently,” says one mother.

And pesticide exposure is even greater during the treatment period, from March to August, as noted by Cyril, who lives just across the street from a vineyard. "There are some years when it makes my throat itch. So what I'm doing now, as we've been warned, is leaving. There aren't many options," he says. Around his house, winegrowers say they have no choice but to spray these products.

A study that must be compared with another dating from 2023 according to Pierre-Michel Périnaud, President of the association "Doctors' Alert on Pesticides".

“Another study that was commissioned in the same context, which focuses on the risks of leukemia for children, and which was released in 2023, corroborates the fact that when you are a child and you live in a wine-growing region, you have an increased risk of leukemia. It's not an extraordinary rate, but it's still an increase, so the risk increases. And so we must now compare these two studies,” he explained on RMC this Tuesday.

For the doctor, there is an urgent need to reduce their use.

“We know that the most effective measure will be reducing pollution at the source. And what's more, one of the most common pesticides is a suspected carcinogen. So what more do we need?” he asks.

The Pestiriv survey will later be used to assess the health risks of this overexposure to pesticides.