MONTREAL (PasseportSanté.net), November 19, 2003 – Pesticides are ubiquitous in the environment and their impact on health is still difficult to measure. This is what some 200 participants heard on Wednesday morning at the inauguration of the very first “Pesticides and health” conference held at the University of Montreal by various organizations.1.
In the greater Montreal region alone, 500,000 people get their drinking water from rivers exposed to pesticides. This becomes even more alarming when we know that the conventional treatments applied to make water drinkable are not aimed at eliminating pesticides.
Likewise, in urban areas, detectable amounts of pesticides persist in the air 24 hours after application to lawns. And in a study carried out this summer, scientists found that 50% of samples from one of Quebec’s most popular berries contained pesticide residues. (Which one? Details tomorrow).
The figures are also worrying. In the United States, between 1989 and 2002, the number of acute pesticide poisonings (those requiring hospitalization) increased from 67,000 to 110,000. In Quebec, there are approximately 1,500 annually. However, the impact on health of exposure to pesticides is still unclear.
“The long-term effect of exposure to low doses [de pesticides] is misunderstood, admits Onil Samuel, of the Human Toxicology Department of the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec, and one wonders if there could not be a link with cancer, immune disorders, problems reproduction and others ”.
The elderly and children would be more vulnerable. A preliminary study carried out in 2002 had established that the exposure of Quebec children to pesticides seemed higher than that of American or Italian children, a conclusion that a new study tried to verify this summer (details Thursday).
Alternative solutions
No one is saying that pesticides are unnecessary. Without them, some experts estimate, 50% of perishable crops would be lost during transport and storage. Pesticides have also saved the lives of millions of people, for example by eradicating the mosquito vector of malaria in certain places. And pesticides increase agricultural productivity, which translates into lower-cost products for consumers.
But we have known since the end of the 1950s that chemical pesticides are starting to lose their effectiveness. The United Nations Environmental Program considers that increasing resistance to pesticides is one of the main environmental problems on the planet’s surface. In such a context of reduced efficacy and health concerns, it is not surprising that alternative solutions are being explored.
It was at the end of the 1950s that the concept of “integrated pest management” emerged. He advocates the combination and integration of chemical and biological control, specifying that chemical control should only be used when unavoidable and in such a way as to disturb biological control as little as possible, whether the latter is made up of organisms present. naturally or introduced for this purpose. Chemical control therefore seems destined to become one means among others, especially since biological control is not always appropriate since it can have a high potential impact on non-target organisms. (More details about the alternative means on Friday).
“Chemical pesticides still have a role to play, but they will no longer form the basis of the fight against pests,” said Michel Letendre, of the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, in conclusion.
Jean-Benoit Legault – PasseportSanté.net
1. CIRANO. www.cirano.qc.ca
