All pregnant women are exposed to environmental pollutants. Pesticides are the most common, alongside phthalates.
Whether in the streets or at home, pregnant women are not protected. All are exposed to environmental pollutants. Furniture, housekeeping, food, garden… Sources of contamination are omnipresent. This report comes from Public Health France, which publishes this December 7 the results of the Elfe cohort. Carried out among 4,150 pregnant women, it measures prenatal exposure to different types of pollutants – such as bisphenol A or pesticides. The conclusions are not reassuring.
Ubiquitous pesticides
During their pregnancy, women do not escape three components: pesticides, perfluorinated compounds and dioxins, furans and PCBs – all in one group. Among all the participants, an exposure could be measured. It is not trivial. These different products are known to alter fertility and the endocrine system, but also to cause disturbances in the development of the fetus.
The highest rates are for pesticides, used both in agriculture and in the private sector, to control pests in the garden and in the home. Thus, half of the volunteers have traces of organophosphate pesticides and 10% of chlorophenols in their body. The latter are subject to a health threshold, beyond which the effects on pregnancy are known. It is not outdated. However, this is the only product for which limits are set. However, “there is an over-impregnation of pregnant women with pyrethroids in France”, underlines Public Health France.
Phthalate overload
The finding is no more reassuring concerning phthalates, used in cosmetics, in food packaging or even in certain children’s toys. These plasticizers have contaminated the body of 99.6% of pregnant women. For 16 of them, the threshold even exceeds 300 micrograms per liter of urine. The average remains lower than studies conducted in the past. “Despite the restrictions on the use of certain phthalates, they are ubiquitous in the environment and in everyday consumer products,” deplores Public Health France.
The consumption of fats in contact with packaging, such as fresh creams, ice creams and other desserts, increases impregnation. This is clearly harmful: phthalates are toxic for reproduction, probable carcinogens. They also disrupt the development of tissues or organs in the fetus. Difficult to escape since they are found even in anti-lice treatments and flame retardants.
The most positive assessment remains that concerning the much publicized bisphenol A, now banned in France. Even before its ban, exposure rates were the most moderate, compared to other products. 70% of women had traces in their urine, all well below the health threshold. The authors welcome the gradual decline in the use of this plasticizer, which disrupts the reproductive, endocrine and cardiovascular systems and promotes diabetes. But this is done in favor of an equally harmful chemical: bisphenol S.
Bisphenol A persists despite ban
Since January 1, 2015, bisphenol A has no longer been accepted in France. But is the ban applied so far? No, responds this December 7 the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF). She publishes on her site the results of a series of checks. The results are “generally satisfactory”, says the report. But 22% of the samples do not comply with the requirements of the law. Among the pinned products, goblets, beverage cans or even a beer keg. The DGCCRF nevertheless specifies that most of the time, they were put on the market before the ban on BPA. Only 26 warnings were issued. Management notes one avenue for improvement: in 13% of cases, the chemical was spotted in the interior varnish of metal cans. Abandoning epoxy varnishes in favor of other alternatives would be a solution.
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