According to a study by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), published on Wednesday, there is a "strong presumption" of a link between occupational exposure to pesticides and six serious diseases, including certain cancers and brain disorders.

The six pathologies are three types of cancer (prostate, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, multiple myelomas), Parkinson's disease, cognitive disorders and an active respiratory disease, COPD, according to the expertise.

No recommendations

For the first four, the “strong presumption” of a link with occupational exposure to certain pesticides had already been highlighted during a previous expert review by Inserm in 2013. In the light of the latest scientific knowledge, this list goes from four diseases to six: cognitive disorders (alteration of brain functions such as memory or reasoning, which can progress to dementia) and COPD are added in the update of the report, unveiled on Wednesday by the research organization public. To do this, Inserm did not carry out any measurements, but analyzed all of the existing scientific literature, i.e. some 5,300 study results.

“The objective is to help the political decision-makers”, explained one of the officials of Inserm, Laurent Fleury, during a videoconference.

However, the experts do not make recommendations.

“Going further on what to recommend is neither our job nor our objective,” underlined one of the experts, Isabelle Baldi.

"It is high time for the government to really act for a strong reduction in the use of pesticides", reacts François Veillerette, spokesperson for the NGO Générations Futures, in a press release.

Respiratory health taken into account

The term “pesticides” includes all the products used to fight against undesirable plant species (herbicides) and pests (insecticides and fungicides). They are mainly used in agriculture but they are found everywhere in the environment (air, dust, foodstuffs, etc.). Out of 17 pesticides analyzed in the expert appraisal, 11 are associated with at least two toxicological effects among the three studied: oxidative stress, mitotoxicity - toxicity for the mitochondria, structures which allow cells to breathe - and action on the immune system. Scientific knowledge has sometimes evolved since 2013.

This is the case for cognitive disorders: we go from “medium presumption” to “strong presumption” of a link with “exposure to pesticides, mainly organophosphates, among farmers”.

For “residents of agricultural areas or the general population”, taken into account by “the most recent studies”, the expertise concludes “with an average presumption”.

The new expertise takes respiratory health into account, unlike the previous one: "A strong presumption between occupational exposure to pesticides and the occurrence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic bronchitis has been established".

Children

In addition, Inserm confirms that "pregnancy and early childhood are more vulnerable to the presence of a toxic event or agent". In children, Inserm refers to a “strong presumption” of a link between “acute leukemia” and the mother's exposure to pesticides during pregnancy. Even the exposure of the father sometimes seems to be able to play: there is an “average presumption” for “acute lymphoblastic leukemia” of the child “in the event of occupational exposure” of the father “in the preconception period”. For tumors of the brain and spinal cord, the expert opinion concludes with a “strong presumption of a link” with the occupational exposure of the parents before birth.Same level of presumption for the link between maternal exposure to pesticides during pregnancy and "disorders of the neuropsychological and motor development of the child", or "behavioral disorders such as anxiety".

Finally, the expertise shines the spotlight on several particularly media-related substances.

First, glyphosate, concluding "the existence of an increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with a moderate presumption of link".

Then, chlordecone, long used in the West Indies and now banned.

Expertise confirms a "strong presumption of a link between exposure to chlordecone in the general population and the risk of developing prostate cancer".

"The vast majority of substances for which there are links that have been found are no longer authorized in France, for agricultural uses in any case," responded Eugénia Pommaret, director of the UIPP, which brings together producers of products. phytosanitary.

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  • Cancer

  • Disease

  • Health

  • Pesticides

  • Inserm