Nina Droff 09:44, August 03, 2022
In the agglomeration of La Rochelle in Charente-Maritime, record levels of pesticides in the air have been recorded.
It is especially the concentration of prosulfocarb which explodes, a herbicide used in the agricultural plain of Aunis which borders the communes of the agglomeration.
A cause of great concern for elected officials and residents of the region.
For Marc Maigné, health manager for the agglomeration of La Rochelle, the latest results of the air analyzes had the effect of a hammer blow.
"We really have the pesticide record in France by far. We still have eight times more prosulfocarb in the air in Aunis than elsewhere in France. It's huge. We expose the local population to a significant toxicological risk , unfortunately chronic diseases, even cancers”, he explains on Europe 1.
An abnormal number of pediatric cancers detected in two municipalities in the area
A concern shared by the inhabitants of the agglomeration, especially since an abnormal number of pediatric cancers has already been detected in two municipalities in the area.
According to the ARS, prosulfocarb is not carcinogenic, but for Franck Rinchet-Girollet, member of the future health environment association, it is above all the accumulation of products that raises a question.
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"Where we wonder is the potential cocktail effect with the other molecules that we find in the air. Our concern is there, it is not on a molecule in particular, it is on all molecules," he says.
A study in progress
A moratorium on prosulfocarb has been demanded by the agglomeration.
Request refused by the government, but a study on its effects is underway.