According to a study by the Regional Air Observatory, the presence of pesticides in the air increased in 2019-2020, in particular due to a hot and humid spring conducive to the development of diseases on crops.
Lindane, an insecticide banned for sale more than twenty years ago, is still very present.
This year, specialists will try to quantify endocrine disruptors.
Air pollution is, according to specialists, responsible for 40,000 premature deaths per year in France.
It is the second leading cause of preventable death behind tobacco and ahead of alcohol.
And if we are overwhelmed with CO2 or nitrogen dioxide indicators, concerning pesticides, there are currently no national or European regulations on their monitoring.
But in Occitania, the Regional Air Observatory (Atmo Occitanie) has been used for several years to detect and quantify them on several sites, the exact location of which is kept secret and where the cultures are very different: in the Lauragais dominated by large cereal fields, in the Tarn-et-Garonne stronghold of arboriculture but also field crops, in two wine-growing areas of Aude and Gard,
and on a site in the Pyrénées-Orientales where orchards rub shoulders with vines.
This year, for lack of means, there is no urban site.
This annual survey, on a sensitive subject, is "not intended to point the finger at officials", specifies Agnès Langevine, the president of Atmo Occitanie, but to "bank the data" to possibly help farmers adapt their practices. .
Concentrations closely linked to weather and cultures
In general, the pesticide concentrations recorded in Occitania from October 2020 to September 2021 (to be based on the plant cycle) are higher than the previous year.
For Dominique Tilak, the director of Atmo, the cause must not be sought "a particularly hot and humid spring", conducive to the development of fungi in the vines and weeds elsewhere.
Of the 86 molecules sought, 27 were detected: 11 fungicides, 9 herbicides and 7 insecticides.
The distribution of pesticides is logical: fungicides in greater quantities in the wine-growing sectors, herbicides in the cereal fields and above the orchards, a variegation where the two types of crops coexist.
The most common pesticide in Occitania (in occurrences and in quantity) is Folpel, a fungicide used against vine fungi such as mildew but also against certain wheat diseases.
The herbicide pendimethalin, "broad-spectrum" as one would say for an antibiotic, comes in second place.
It is used in spring on rapeseed and in autumn for cereals.
Lindane, the surprise guest
In third place comes lindane.
The presence of this insecticide, the most detected in Occitania, may seem incongruous since it was banned for sale in 1998. "These are tiny but frequent quantities", explains Dominique Tilak.
This should not be seen as pirate use of old stocks, but as an incredible "remanence" of lindane, which degrades extremely slowly in the environment.
The turn of endocrine disruptors
These raw data can be worrying.
But apart from the case of wine-growing Aude, exposure to pesticides in Occitanie remains within the average of the readings made in the rest of France, it is even lower than comparable terroirs for Lauragais.
Moreover, if the concern is natural vis-à-vis chemical molecules, Catherine Choma, director of public health at the regional health agency believes that there is "no need to worry" at this stage.
In addition, this year, the Atmo will launch a campaign of evaluations of endocrine disruptors in the air, whether natural or artificial.
Pesticides are on the list but also, for example, plasticizers.
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Languedoc Roussillon
Montpellier
Health
pesticides
Toulouse
Pollution
Planet
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