Biscuits, cereals, sandwich bread, brioche, croissants, pasta … Pesticides are everywhere. In March 2013, the ecological association Génération Futures had banged its fist on the table: in a shock report, it revealed that 75% of food consumed by children contained pesticides, that is to say chemicals “suspected of” disrupt the endocrine system ”.
New “green offensive” in September 2015 : Génération Futures revealed this time that 1 in 10 salads contained pesticides. In March 2015, environmentalists had attacked the hair of Parisian women: they had found 7 substances harmful to health, including 5 insecticides.
In its latest report (published on October 11, 2016) Génération Futures specifically targeted the pesticides present in industrial mueslis. These would contain 354 times the maximum dose tolerated in tap water …
At present, no standard for food
The good news is that the government seems to have got the message. This Thursday, October 13, 2016, the Minister of Health Marisol Touraine, the Minister of the Environment Ségolène Royal and the Minister of Agriculture Stéphane Le Foll declared that they wanted to contact ANSES (the National Health Security Agency of the food, environment and work) so that it proposes “criteria for setting up an overall maximum limit for all pesticides present in food”.
Indeed: at present, at the level of pesticides, no standards exist for food, while water is subject to strict regulations. “We are going to ask ANSES to think about a maximum dose of pesticides authorized per day per ingestion via food, and how this could be concretely reflected in terms of recommendations for consumption or reductions in maximum residue limits. fixed by Europe on certain ingredients ”explained the ministry to our colleagues from AFP. To be continued.
To read :
The first map of France for pesticide victims
What alternatives to pesticides?
