The investigation will examine the extent of pesticide exposure among people living near vineyards, using parameters never considered in previous studies. The investigation will examine the extent of pesticide exposure among people living near vineyards, using parameters never considered in previous studies.
In France, a large proportion of the rural population lives in wine-producing regions and is particularly exposed to the pesticides used in vineyards to treat the vines. To examine the extent of this exposure, French public health authorities and Anses (the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Safety) have launched PestiRiv, a large-scale study that will help frame the issue more clearly and enable specific preventive measures to be adopted.
After a pilot phase, starting last October, researchers have been taking measurements on 3,350 people — children aged 3 to 17 and adults aged 18 to 79 — selected at random from among those living near vineyards and those residing far from any cultivated land. The study is unprecedented in terms of the sources of exposure taken into account (air, food, occupational activities and domestic habits), the diversity of samples collected simultaneously (outdoor air, indoor air, dust, urine, hair, home-grown food) and the breadth of geographical coverage, which spans six French regions: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand Est, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
The main objective of PestiRiv, as mentioned, is to find out whether a difference exists between pesticide exposure among people living near vineyards and those residing far from any cultivated land, identifying more precisely the sources of pesticide exposure and the influence of the distance factor between homes and vines. The full results will be published in 2024.