pesticides causing pediatric cancer

Do harmful substances cause pediatric cancers? This is the question asked by the inhabitants of the Aunis plain, an agricultural town near La Rochelle. The hair and urine of 70 children, aged 3 to 17, revealed traces of pesticides. “We can’t imagine being told that our child has cancer (…) in fact there are many“, indicates the mother of a sick child. Result: 14 harmful substances were found in the children’s urine and 45 in the hair.

For the association to initiate the analyses, the State must take up the subject. “We denounce the silence of saying that certain products are authorized when they are dangerous”, denounces Franck Ringet Girollet, president of the Avenir Santé Environnement association. Between 2008 and 2020, already 10 cases of pediatric cancers had been identified by Inserm at Poitiers University Hospital. Since 2020, the association has counted 5 new cases linked to banned harmful substances. In 2022, parents and children came together to warn of the dangers.