spraying vines
Generations Futures have done a number of studies on pesticide usage in France and the resulting impact on those who work in vineyards or live nearby.  Recent tests on children’s hair samples from those living or attended schools near to vineyards found a cocktail of pesticides some of which have already been banned.
30 children were tested for 53 pesticides suspected of being endocrine disruptors, 21 residues were found in the hair samples. The English version of the press release can be found here. Media piece.
Farmers and workers exposed to pesticides formed a group L’association Phyto-Victimes and produced a film: Death is in the Meadows about the affects of pesticides on farmers, their families and communities. Media piece.
Previous tests on 40 bottles of EU wine found on average each wine contained pesticides concentrations up to 230 times higher than would be legally allowed in drinking water. You can read the report here.
We should be eliminating these hazardous pesticides in our food and drink chains. And maybe its time to persuade french wine growers to go organic and protect the health of vineyard workers, nearby communities and their children and the consumer.
Unknown's avatar

Published by wildcardenvironmentalist

Helen Lynn has worked on issues linking women, gender, health and the environment since 1995, initially at the Women’s Environmental Network where she was health co-ordinator for 12 years, then as a freelance consultant. She has worked internationally and at EU level with Women in Europe for a Common Future and is on their International Advisory Board. Her campaign work began with Putting Breast Cancer on the Map, which encouraged women to map local sources of pollution alongside incidence of breast cancer and she was one of the founders of the No More Breast Cancer Campaign. She is on the Soil Associations Health Products Standards Committee which develops and keeps under review standards for organic health and beauty care products. While at WEN she and the health team initiated the Getting Lippy campaign on harmful ingredients in cosmetics, the campaign covered all aspects of the issue including information on toxic ingredients, making your own cosmetics, misleading labelling and advertising of the products and which alternatives are available. Other campaigns Helen worked on included the Ban Lindane (a toxic pesticide used on crops) Campaign, Healthy Flooring, Enviromenstrual, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. She currently facilitates the Alliance for Cancer Prevention which works with occupational and environmental health specialists and activists to challenge the existing emphasis on control and treatment of cancer as the only way forward and to get equal recognition for primary prevention, particularly in relation to environmental and occupational risk factors. In 2014 along with fellow breast cancer activists she began the From Pink to Prevention campaign which aims to move the agenda towards Stopping Breast Cancer before it Starts.