The National Agency for National Food Safety (ANSES) warns of a possibly carcinogenic chemical found in drinking water in a study released on Thursday. The presence of chlorothalonil, a degradation product, is highlighted.
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| Chlorothalonil in France's drinking water |
The National Agency for National Food Safety (ANSES) stated on Thursday that a possibly carcinogenic pesticide has been identified in drinking water. The presence of chlorothalonil, a degradation product, is highlighted. Chlorothalonil is a fungicide that was first used in agriculture in the 1970s and was prohibited in 2019. However, certain residues known as metabolites are still present in around one-third of all drinking water. It is available in France.
It has finally been measured by scientists. ANSES's hydrologist is Christophe Roisin. "Because there are so many pesticides, we can't monitor them all in drinking water." Today, we have procedures that allow us to appropriately search for pesticide metabolites, which was not conceivable just a few years ago," he explains at Europe 1's microphone.
Even though there is no immediate danger from ingesting this herbicide, its presence is cause for caution. "The active substance, or parent molecule, is a molecule that has most likely been classified as carcinogenic." We don't have enough information on the degradation product we discovered to rule out this concern. On the other side, our study will allow for the progressive inclusion of monitoring of this molecule as part of routine health checks," he says.
According to the ANSES research, the most densely populated areas, particularly Île-de-France and the Grand-Ouest, are the most impacted.