Since the 1980s, many epidemiological studies have regularly mentioned the role of pesticides in the development of certain pathologies in people exposed to pesticides. At the request of the Directorate General of Health (DGS), the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) has compiled all these studies and draws up an alarming finding.
Indeed, after consulting all these surveys, Inserm concludes that “there seems to be a positive association between occupational exposure to pesticides and certain pathologies in adults: Parkinson disease, the Prostate cancer and certain other cancers (leukemia, lymphoma). Furthermore, exposure to pesticides occurring during the prenatal and perinatal period as well as in early childhood seems to be particularly at risk for child development”.
Pesticides: present in the air, water, soil…
Herbicides, fungicides, insecticides: there is a great heterogeneity of pesticides (approximately 1,000 active substances have already been marketed worldwide). The vast majority of them are used for agriculture, the maintenance of parks and gardens, but also for human health (disinsection, rat extermination, etc.). According to this Inserm report, exposure to pesticides, even at low intensity, causes an increased risk of developing certain cancers (leukemia, prostate cancer, lymphoma) or neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
Pesticides and cancers
Inserm’s collective expert appraisal more specifically targeted 8 cancer locations: 4 hematopoietic cancers (leukaemias), as well as prostate and testicular cancers, brain tumors and melanomas. “Most of these locations had already been identified in previous studies as potentially associated with exposure to pesticides, generally without distinction as to the active ingredients incriminated” underline the researchers.
For the Prostate cancer, the increased risk exists among farmers, workers in pesticide production plants and rural populations (between 12 and 28% depending on the population). A few active ingredients have been specifically singled out: chlordecone, carbofuran, coumaphos, fonofos, and permethrin: substances that are all currently banned from use.
For hematopoietic cancers, an increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma exists in professionals exposed to organophosphorus pesticides and certain organochlorines (lindane, DDT).
But for the other types of cancer (testicular cancer, brain tumors and Hodgkin’s disease), the number is too low to really speak of an increased risk.
In their conclusions, the Inserm experts draw attention to certain critical periods of exposure (pregnancy and early childhood) both in the workplace and in the general population. And they emphasize the need for better knowledge of population exposure data to pesticides present in the air and in water.
All of this Inserm collective expertise can be downloaded online, on the Institute’s website.
