The announcement caused a stir. Twenty-six socialist senators, who in July 2022 entrusted a lock of their hair to the private laboratory ToxSeek to screen for 1,800 organic pollutants and 49 metals, have finally received their results. The information, reported by The Parisian Monday, June 26, then by a dispatch from Agence France Presse, Tuesday, 27, has been taken up by dozens of media since, sometimes with great fanfare of sensationalist titles.
And for good reason: the analyzes highlight the presence of rare earths – metals used in the manufacture of smartphones or electric car batteries – in 24 of the 26 senators, including seven in a “significant way” and reveal that mercury, a heavy metal, is present in all samples. Each elected official would also be “contaminated by at least one pesticide”, 45 different products (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides) are thus identified. Finally, the plasticizer di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP) is detected in 18 of them, says ToxSeek. “It’s an alert. If it’s in our hair, that means we’re contaminated,” says Lot senator Angèle Préville, who spearheaded this project. But if the communication plan is undeniably successful, the scientific interest of these analyses, as well as the methodology of the laboratory, raise questions.
A successful com plan, a dubious scientific interest
“These operations are always useful to draw attention to the subject of environmental pollution and show that we are all exposed, even to make the authorities react”, comments Robert Barouki, director of an Inserm toxicology unit, toxicologist and professor of biochemistry at the University of Paris Cité, which nevertheless reminds us that the process is not new. In 2017, seven environmental personalities, including Nicolas Hulot, José Bové, Yannick Jadot and Delphine Batho, had already lent themselves to hair analyzes which had shown the presence of endocrine disruptors. “But beyond this alert character, there is not much else to draw, because it is not a scientific study. These examinations do not contribute anything on this level” , continues the professor.
ToxSeek thus indicates having found molecules, but the detailed analyzes of three senators – Patrick Kanner, Yan Chantrel and Angèle Préville -, which L’Express obtained, never specify whether these substances were included in the hair – which could translate a contamination – or if they were deposited there. A difference in size, which is usually specified in reviews of the same type. Indeed, hair samples can detect substances that were present inside the body a few weeks earlier. To find out, you have to make sure that they are completely clean, in order to avoid potential external contamination.
“The phthalates identified by ToxSeek are very common substances that are found in almost all PVC products, but also in flexible articles that may come into contact with hair such as shower curtains and combs, but also in sanitary products and cosmetics such as perfumes, deodorants, lacquers and gels”, underlines Maxime Sol, biologist in a private laboratory of the INOVIE group, who was able to consult the analyzes. “A team of professionals carried out the samples in the Senate”, defend the senators, questioned by L’Express.
A presence is identified, not the danger
And even if molecules are actually found, this does not automatically mean that these are worrying or dangerous doses for health. “We know the maximum thresholds authorized in the blood, even the urine – set by the health authorities – for many substances, but we do not know them for the hair, because that requires in particular much more complex conversion calculations, indicates Robert Barouki. So apart from noting that such a sample contains more substances than another, we cannot conclude much more. This is the reason why scientific studies are rarely based on hair samples. ToxSeek recognizes this itself since the toxicological analysis reports consulted by L’Express specify that “non-targeted research (screening) in the hair cannot be quantified because capillary levels are not correlated with blood levels”. And yet, the documents classify the substances detected into three categories: “acceptable”, “to watch” and “at risk”.
Summary of the results of the hair samples from one of the Socialist senators.
© / The Express
The analyzes thus show the presence of mercury, whose toxicity thresholds are known for blood and urine – which reflects either recent exposure or old and constant exposure – but not for hair samples. Their detection does not make it possible to conclude on possible consequences for the health of elected officials. The impact thresholds for human health of a concentration in the hair of the pesticides found by ToxSeek are also not defined to date. The private laboratory still reveals the presence of DNOP above the detection limit (one microgram per gram) on the hair samples. “But on the one hand, it is impossible to know whether it is contamination of the organism or passive exposure by impregnation of the hair, and on the other hand, it is not either possible to interpret this result in terms of health risk, since the authorities have not yet set acceptable daily doses for this molecule”, emphasizes Maxime Sol.
Rare earth and electrosensitivity, the big mix
As for rare earths, ToxSeek states that: “Seven senators have significant contamination with rare earths which may indicate intolerance to electromagnetic fields”. A strange link. “We are entering the field of esotericism here, this passage is a warning signal concerning the seriousness of their work, believes Maxime Sol. The laboratory implies that the use of electronic devices would lead to contamination by rare earths? However, the skin is in contact with the glass of the devices, not with the metals of the electronic chip”. Not to mention that if electrohypersensitive people (EHS) claim that they cannot tolerate exposure to electromagnetic waves, which would cause them to suffer from numerous symptoms – burning sensations, headaches, insomnia -, the scientific community and the health authorities, although ‘they recognize the reality of these pains, recall that no experimental proof makes it possible to establish a causal link between exposure to electromagnetic fields and these symptoms. Nor is there any evidence regarding a possible interaction with rare earths and electrohypersensitivity.
The supposed intolerance to magnetic fields seems above all to be a favorite subject of Matthieu Davoli, co-founder of ToxSeek. In an interview broadcast on YouTube in 2022, he explained how rare earths, coupled with electromagnetic fields, would cause pathologies. “If you have hypersensitivity to magnetic fields and these metals [les terres rares, NDLR]you are no longer going to eliminate them, the effects are then effects of endocrine disruption which increase […] to electrohypersensitivity syndrome […] which eventually leads to autoimmune, autodegenerative diseases, and probably to cancers”, he said. All without citing any scientific source – and for good reason.
“I am very surprised that elected representatives of the Republic call on a private body when we have a quality public infrastructure which could have carried out good analyses”, regrets Robert Barouki. It would also have avoided promoting a laboratory that charges 340 euros for its samples and whose conclusions seem to say the least… far-fetched.