Children in agricultural areas are being exposed to a dangerous cocktail of pesticides, some of which are banned substances, a French health and environment group has claimed.
Générations Futures did independent analysis of the hair of young people living or studying near farms and vineyards after parents expressed worries about their children being exposed to poisons that could disrupt their endocrine system.
The group, a non-profit organisation specialising in the use and effects of pesticides on humans and the environment, says its findings confirmed their fears.
Researchers took hair samples from a selected group of children aged between three and 10 living or attending schools between 50 and 200 metres from different agricultural zones. It sent the samples to an independent laboratory in Luxembourg that used methods similar to those employed by detectives investigating poisoning cases.
In 29 samples tested 624 pesticide traces were found, suggesting that 80% of the children had been exposed to agricultural pesticides in the previous three months. The laboratory found traces of 53 pesticides believed to affect mammals' hormone systems and capable of causing cancerous tumours, birth defects, developmental disorders and learning disabilities in humans.
An average of 21.52 distinct pesticides were found in each child; 35 endocrine disruptor pesticides were found at least once, while 13 types of pesticides were discovered in all the hair samples.
Just under three-quarters of the children ate organic food regularly, so the contamination likely came from an outside source, not their food.
Val says I am so fed up of these stories, what does it take for everyone to take pesticides seriously?
This story in the Guardian
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