France’s food safety authority says mass testing of drinking water has revealed traces of a banned pesticide in 50 percent of samples.
The National Agency for Food, Environment and Workplace Security (Anses) began testing in 2019 to identify 200 complex chemical compounds originating from pesticides or explosives which are not normally sought in its routine checks.
The agency examined 136,000 samples across France from groundwater sources or treated water – amounting to about 20 percent of all water distributed in the country.
The agency said "one case in particular stood out": traces left behind from a fungicide known as chlorothalonil, sold widely by Swiss chemicals group Syngenta in Europe from the 1970s until it was banned by the EU in 2020.
A chemical produced when the fungicide breaks down, known as metabolite R417888, was found in more than half of the samples. "Moreover, it was found in higher-than-authorised quantities in more than one sample in three," Anses said in its study.
"We are 20 times higher than the authorised level," Christophe Rosin from Anses hydrology department told RFI, adding that further studies were needed to establish the health risk involved.
Banned in EU
Chlorothalonil, sold under the brand name Bravo by Syngenta, was a popular product used to prevent mildew and mould on barley, wheat, potatoes, peas and beans.
It was banned in the European Union after a review by the European Food Safety Authority concluded it was potentially carcinogenic.
Anses said in a report last year that laboratory studies on chlorothalonil had linked it to kidney tumours in rats and mice.
Other studies have suggested it has played a role in the decline in bumblebee populations.
The Anses study showed that densely populated and intensely farmed areas were most likely to have traces of chlorothalonil.
In the agricultural Loire-Atlantique region, traces above the authorised level were found in nine out of 10 households.
"We have a serious problem," said François Veillerette from the non-profit Génerations Futures.
"Millions of French households are receiving sub-quality water and several pesticides are concerned: thalonil, metolachlore, chloridazone, and others that have still to be investigated."
Syngenta defence
French authorities were alerted to the possible presence of chlorothalonil metabolites by studies carried out in Switzerland suggesting the product was a carcinogen.
Syngenta, which was bought by ChemChina in 2017, disputed the claim and sued Switzerland's Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office.
It also claimed that authorised levels of chlorothalonil in Switzerland – and the EU – were extremely low at 0.1 micrograms per litre of water, which was the, company claimed, the equivalent concentration of "dissolving a grain of sugar in 200,000 bathtubs of water".
Farming groups criticised the EU at the time over the ban, calling it overly precautionary.
In February, Anses ordered a halt to some uses of one of the most popular weedkillers in France, S-metolachlor, which is also produced by Syngenta, after finding excessive levels in groundwater.
(With AFP)
