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How many times have you done this simple gesture? Give a glass of tap water to your child who asks for a drink. However, in certain departments, such as Ile-et-Vilaine, Yonne, Aude or Deux-Sèvres, analyzes have regularly shown that the water could be contaminated by a herbicide, atrazine. Many French viewers discovered this product during the broadcast last February of the France 2 report, “Cash Investigation” on pesticides. We learn that atrazine and its metabolites (residues of molecules) can, at low doses, disrupt hormonal messages in living beings.
Water pollution: the risks for pregnant women
The first to study the effects of atrazine was an American researcher, Tyrone Hayes, of the University of Berkeley in California. This biologist was commissioned by the Swiss firm Syngenta, which markets atrazine to study the effect of the product on frogs. He had made a disturbing discovery. By ingesting atrazine, male frogs “demasculinized” and female frogs “defeminized”. Clearly, the batrachians were becoming hermaphrodites.
In France, the PÉLAGIE * study showed a impact in humans of atrazine exposure during pregnancy at low levels of environmental contamination. With his teams from the University of Rennes, epidemiologist Sylvaine Cordier followed 3 pregnant women for 500 years, in order to assess the consequences of prenatal exposure on children’s development. Pregnant women who had high levels of atrazine in their blood were “6% more likely to have a baby with low birth weight and 50% more risk of having a baby with low head circumference.” . Can go up to 70 cm in circumference less! These studies suggest that atrazine and its metabolites may have effects at very low doses. Banned since 2003, atrazine remains present in soils and groundwater. This pesticide had been widely used since the sixties in corn crops. For years, large quantities have been used: up to several kilos per hectare. Over time, the parent molecule of atrazine breaks down into several pieces of molecules that recombine with others. These residues are called metabolites. However, we absolutely do not know the toxicity of these new molecules created.
Is the water polluted in my town?
To find out if your tap water contains atrazine or one of its derivatives, take a close look at your annual water bill. Once a year, information on the quality of the water distributed must be indicated therein, on the basis of checks carried out by the administration responsible for health affairs. On the site, you can also find information on the quality of your water by clicking on an interactive map. Your town hall also has the obligation display the results of your municipality’s water analyzes. If not, you can ask to see them. Otherwise, on the website of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, you will find information on the quality of drinking water in your municipality. If you live in an area of intensive agriculture, where corn cultivation has been or is predominant, it is possible that groundwater is contaminated with atrazine. The legislation had set a limit, based on the precautionary principle, of 0,1 micrograms per liter. However, in 2010, new legislation increased this “tolerance” of atrazine levels in water to a maximum value of 60 micrograms per liter. That is, much more than the value where the researchers found effects on susceptible populations.
François Veillerette, director of the “Générations Futures” association, informs about the dangers of pesticides. He advises pregnant women not to wait for the ban on water consumption by the authorities to stop drinking tap water in regions where atrazine levels exceed the thresholds: “With the increase in the tolerance of the levels of pesticides in the water, the authorities can continue to distribute it despite the proven danger for sensitive populations, such as pregnant women. and young children. I would advise these people to stop drinking tap water. “
What water to give our children?
For babies and toddlers, choose spring water in a plastic bottle labeled “Suitable for preparing infant foods” (and not mineral water, which is too loaded with minerals). Because not all bottled water is created equal. Some plastic components can be found in water (marked 3, 6 and 7 within the triangular arrow symbol) and little is known about their effects on health. The ideal? Drink bottled water in glass. Families who want to continue drinking tap water can invest in a reverse osmosis device, a device that purifies the water in the house to rid it of its chemicals. However, it is advisable not to give it to babies or pregnant women. (see testimony)
But these solutions annoy the ecologist François Veillerette: “It is not normal not to be able to drink tap water. It is necessary refuse to find pesticides in the water. It is time to return to a principle of precaution with regard to fragile populations and to win back the battle for water quality. It is our children who will pay for the consequences of this water pollution for years to come. Under pressure from concerned citizens and the media, more and more information is circulating on the impact of pesticides on environmental health problems. But how much longer will it take for things to change?
* The PÉLAGIE study (Endocrine Disruptors: Longitudinal Study on Anomalies in Pregnancy, Infertility and Childhood) Inserm, University of Rennes.