a study by ANSES warns of the widespread presence of chlorothalonil metabolite in drinking water in France

She warns about “exceedances of the quality limit in more than one out of three samples”. The National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) published on Thursday 6 April the results of its latest national analysis campaign, in the drinking water network, of chemical compounds which are not or little sought after during regular checks. Among the pollutants scrutinized, the metabolite of chlorothalonil attracted the attention of researchers. “It is the most frequently found pesticide metabolite, in more than one out of two samples”notes the agency in its press release.

This metabolite comes from the degradation of chlorothalonil, a pesticide banned in France since 2020, and its presence exceeds the quality threshold of 0.1 µg/L in more than one in three samples (34%). Gold, “its parent molecule [est] considered as a probable carcinogen by the European health authorities and associated with the appearance of renal tumors in laboratory animals”remember The world. “No health effect of the metabolite in question has been proven at these exposure doses, but the data are very incomplete”says the newspaper.