The National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) is publishing this Thursday, April 6, the results of its latest campaign to measure emerging chemical compounds in drinking water in France after 3 years of research. Molecules little or not monitored during regular checks. In all, more than 150 pesticides and their derivatives as well as about fifty explosive residues were tested and a metabolite, resulting from the degradation in the environment of a particular pesticide, was very frequently found.
It was R 471 811 that caught the attention of researchers. Behind this registration number hides a substance derived from chlorothalonil, a pesticide used since the 1970s and banned in the European Union in 2019.
This derivative is the pollutant most frequently found in samples. And its concentration exceeds the authorized threshold in almost a third of the country’s drinking water. In tap water, but also in bottled water.
ANSES affirms that large densely populated areas are affected, in particular the Paris region, without specifying for the moment the extent of the contamination. The product is judged potentially problematic by the health agency. Because even if it is not proven that it affects human and animal health, its parent molecule, chlorothalonil, is classified as a “probable carcinogen” by the European health authorities. The pesticide is associated with the appearance of tumors on the kidneys of laboratory animals.
As for the depollution of water, it is already proving to be complex and could cost billions of euros, as the molecule is so difficult to eliminate.
► To read: the ANSES report