This week in the “Vrai du Faux Junior”, we answer questions about this recommendation from the ARS Ile-de-France which invites the inhabitants of the region not to consume their eggs from their domestic chicken coop.
On April 19, the Ile-de-France Regional Health Agency (ARS) recommended that residents of the region not consume eggs from their personal chicken coops, or domestic chicken coops. The students of the Jules-Ferry college, in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois (Essonne) had questions on this subject and it is doctor Luc Ginot who answers them, he is director of public health at the ARS of Ile-de-France.
Yes, you should avoid consuming eggs from your domestic chicken coop in Ile-de-France
Lilian read on the internet that he “should not eat eggs, because they are contaminated“He wonders if it’s true.
Doctor Ginot first specifies that “in general, eggs are important in the diet and should continue to be eaten“. On the other hand, the director of public health at the Ile-de-France ARS confirms the recommendation not to consume certain eggs, those “from domestic henhouses, those you have at home, in a small yard or even in the back garden and which are less controlled than eggs sold on the market.“
Lilian also wonders if “it is the hens or the eggs that are contaminated“. Doctor Ginot replies: “Both, because the pollutants we looked at, dioxins and furans, are pollutants that concentrate in what is called fat. And there is fat in both the hens and in the eggs that are produced by those hens.”
Pollutants present in eggs from poultry houses close to incinerators, but not only
Mary read “that the consumption of eggs from chicken coops near the main waste incinerators around Paris was discouraged, as they are contaminated with dioxin, furan and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)” and she wonders what their exact impact is on us. In summary, what do we risk if we eat these eggs?
Luc Ginot first specifies that “these pollutants are called organic and persistent pollutants. This means that they have been present in our environment for a long time, since there has been industrial activity, in the Paris region as elsewhere, so it is not near the main waste incinerators, neither around Paris nor elsewhere.“. Doctor Ginot explains that “the study shows that there is a presence of pollutants in eggs in many areas of the Paris region, some near incinerators, others very far from incinerators.“
According to him, “the risk is apparently very low, i.e. it is linked to dioxins, furan or PCBs which have a very long-term impact.” Doctor Ginot specifies that “when exposed for a very long time, especially in a professional environment, these impacts can be cutaneous [au niveau de la peau]appear in the liver, or participate in the development of cancers or reproductive problems.”
But he reminds us that to reach these risks, you have to be exposed for a very long time and in a very significant way.
A study conducted in Ile-de-France only
Cristina wonders “if this will only happen in Ile-de-France or in other departments.”
Doctor Ginot explains that “we cannot know the situation elsewhere, in the other regions, because the survey was carried out only in Ile-de-France“. This ARS study was carried out in response to reports from residents of Val-de-Marne who were worried about having found, through samples taken by associations, dioxin in the eggs of their henhouses.
The ARS then took samples from 25 different places in Ile-de-France and in 21 of these places, they found traces of dioxin and PCBs.
The pollutants that can be found in vegetables are different from those found in eggs
Amaury wonders “If it’s about eggs, could it be about something else, like vegetables, for example.“
Doctor Ginot explains that there are two principles regarding pollution. “On the one hand, it can always concern everything. And on the other hand, some pollutants have more affinity for certain types of products.“
For example, “dioxin and PCBs tend to be concentrated in animal and fatty matter, so we won’t find them in vegetables. On the other hand, some vegetables may possibly, in other circumstances, concentrate other pollutants, such as lead or metals.“
And that is why, explains Luc Ginot, that “When you have vegetable gardens, for example in an industrial environment, you must always follow the right recommendations, the agency has made a kind of little guide for that which allows you to know if you can consume your production safely or not.“