No pesticides around schools. This is what Marie-Lys Bibeyran, agricultural employee and anti-pesticide activist, asks with the support of the association Pesticide Doctors Alert, through a petition posted three weeks ago on the site Change.org. The mobilization is important since the petition has already gathered more than 61,500 signatories. The latter ask the Minister of the Environment Ségolène Royal to treat the agricultural areas located along the schools and sports and cultural infrastructures only with organic products and without the presence of children.
Case closed “without follow-up”
This movement follows the case which recently affected a school in the town of Villeneuve sur Blaye, in Gironde. On May 5, 2014, 23 children and a teacher from a school surrounded by vines are hospitalized urgently due to headache, nausea and dizziness. On the same day, the vines were sprayed with pesticides. The Society for the Study, Protection and Development of Nature in the South-West (Sepanso) of Gironde then lodged a complaint. But in June 2015, the Libourne court prosecutor closed this complaint, considering that the wine growers had not committed any offense. Sepanso Gironde has been challenging this judgment since October 9, 2015 before the Bordeaux Court of Appeal.
Pesticides and cancer risks
Winegrowers are particularly singled out. Indeed, while the vines occupy only 3.6% of French land, they alone represent 20% of the consumption of pesticides in France. However, according to a report of the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) made public in 2013, the substances used as pesticides increase the risk of developing certain cancers, including leukemia, prostate, testicular, brain and skin cancers.
>> To read also:
Should we be afraid of pesticides in wines?
Pesticides: the family of a deceased winegrower files a complaint
Salads contain banned pesticides
Apples, a fruit loaded with pesticides?
Detox: a family tests 100% organic food for 2 weeks
