The NGO Future Generations, which regularly scrutinizes the presence of pesticides in plants intended for consumption, deplored on Wednesday the existence of residues in nearly two thirds of non-organic fruits, vegetables and cereals.

The NGO, which bases its report on data provided by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), welcomed the effort made by the institution to "move forward in transparency". , by providing results for the year 2020 on samples now clearly distinguished between organic plants and those "from agriculture using synthetic chemistry".

Residues of #Pesticides it's time to act!


While the great oral of the #FNSEA is being held, we hope that the candidates present will have the courage to spread the word! @vpecresse @EmmanuelMacron @Anne_Hidalgo @Fabien_Roussel #lassale @MLP_officiel @greenpeacefr @Veillerette pic.twitter.com/XzUYCjLs9d

— Future Generations (@genefutures) March 30, 2022


Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "

I ACCEPT

", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I ACCEPT

And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.


The DGCCRF also publishes results not only on residues above the "quantification limit", i.e. for which laboratories can give the concentration, but also those above the "detection limit, but not quantified ".

These two limits are below the authorized legal threshold.

"This now makes it possible to see more completely the presence of pesticide residues in foods of plant origin, which was hitherto underestimated", says Future Generations.

Above the limit of quantification

Thus, according to the NGO's analysis, which is based on DGCCRF data, 45.9% of all the samples, organic and non-organic, reveal pesticide residues above the quantification limit.

It is “on this single figure that the State usually communicated before”, underlines Future Generations.

The percentage rises to 54.5% when considering only non-organic products where residues above the quantification limit are detected, and to 63.1% for residues in non-organic products above the detection limit.

The DGCCRF's new working method does not currently allow these figures to be compared over time.

"The report is not about risk assessment," said activist François Veillerette, a complex process, which would require knowing the exposure of consumers.

But "people want to eat foods that don't contain dangerous chemicals," he adds.

The NGO calls for an emergency plan

On the same subject, EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, published its annual report on pesticide residues in food on Wednesday, which covers more than 88,000 samples collected across the EU, from origins varied (vegetables, meat, nuts, milk, etc.).

Nearly 95% were below the authorized legal threshold.

Of these, more than half contained no quantifiable residues.

The EFSA nevertheless issues some very specific warnings to the Member States, to which it recommends extensive monitoring, in the few identified cases of presence above the pesticide limit.


On the side of Future Generations, as a result of its investigation, the association is calling for an “emergency plan to reduce the use of pesticides” and “increased support for organic farming”.

The NGO deplores in passing the postponement by the European Commission of the publication of the new regulation "on the sustainable use of pesticides", under the "pressure", according to it, "of agricultural unions such as the FNSEA and the position of States like France ".

Strasbourg

Faced with endocrine disruptors, Strasbourg will experiment with the "green prescription" for pregnant women

Society

The packaging of a product guaranteed without palm oil contains an error, denounces 60 million consumers

  • Health

  • Consumption

  • pesticides

  • Food

  • ngo

  • 0 comment

  • 0 share

    • Share on Messenger

    • Share on Facebook

    • Share on Twitter

    • Share on Flipboard

    • Share on Pinterest

    • Share on Linkedin

    • Send by Mail

  • To safeguard

  • A fault ?

  • To print