Between 40 and 90 pesticides are present in the air we breathe, worries Atmo France, the federation of approved air quality monitoring associations (Aasqa), in a report published on December 18.
A disturbing report. If the air that we breathe in France is loaded with fine particles and toxic gases, between 40 and 90 pesticides are also present there. Among the most common, four herbicides and two insecticides, including one already banned, and three fungicides. This is the alarming result of fifteen years of studies carried out by several air monitoring associations, made public on Wednesday December 18 by Atmo Francethe Federation of Approved Air Quality Monitoring Associations (Aasqa).
For their study, the researchers listed the measurements taken by all the Aasqa between 2002 and 2017. In detail, 321 active substances were researched and 6,837 samples were taken from 176 permanent or mobile sites distributed in rural or urban areas.
Scientists have thus been able to observe that although agglomerations seem globally less exposed than certain non-urbanized territories, they can be affected. Depending on the year, the concentration of pesticides is very variable. It depends “on the local weather conditions, the nature of the soil, the physical and chemical characteristics of the active substance, the equipment used during the treatment…”, explains Atmo France. “The late spring-summer period has higher concentrations in wine-growing areas (fungicides) while in field crop areas (herbicides) the concentrations are higher in the autumn period”, is it detailed.
Products that can be released into the atmosphere by wind or wind or soil erosion
Unfortunately, unlike fine particulate matter or nitrogen dioxide emitted by diesel cars, pesticides are not subject to any regulatory oversight. There are just limits not to exceed in water and food. However, during treatments or when they are used for a long time, phytosanitary products can be released into the atmosphere by the wind or wind or soil erosion.
“Until the 2000s, we thought there were no pesticides in the air, so we weren’t interested in it”, explains Emmanuelle Drab-Sommesous, pesticide referent at Atmo France, quoted by The world. Some regional associations started monitoring them in 2002, while others didn’t start until 2016.
In their report, the experts are concerned about the presence in the air of lindane, a product banned in agriculture since 1998 and as anti-lice since 2006. These products “are still in the soil, since they are persistent. And by different weather phenomena, for example by the wind, by the resuspension of particles, we can still find them in the air”, explains Charlotte Lepitre, coordinator of the Atmo France health network, quoted by France info.
Various recommendations
In conclusion to this disturbing report, the experts have several recommendations. Among them, the establishment of a national platform for the registration of plant protection products to centralize the purchase of pesticides and their recommended use, the integration of pesticides into the regulatory monitoring of air quality or the incorporation the measurement of pesticides in the ambient air as a monitoring indicator in the current systems for reducing the use of monitoring.
This report comes as the government has just announced that from 1er January 2020, the spreading of the most dangerous pesticides will be prohibited within 10 meters of homes and schools. The government has therefore chosen to set up “non-soil treatment zones” in order to “strengthen the protection measures for local residents”.
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