France
Pesticides, fungicides, insecticides...
The mayor of Bègles reveals the list of products detected in his body
The mayor of Bègles, Clément Rossignol Puech, unveiled on Friday the results of the analysis of a strand of his hair. From this sample, an independent laboratory was able to draw up a list of chemicals that were eaten, drunk or inhaled by the elected representative.
The results are chilling. Clément Rossignol Puech details the list of products found in his body from the analysis of one of his hair strands: pesticides, fungicides, insecticides, endocrine disruptors. Two substances are even currently banned in Europe.
These results, however, do not surprise the mayor of Bègles. "I have been an environmental activist for a long time and a scientist by training, so I was expecting these results. "
Products that are omnipresent in our environment
Among the products authorised but present in too large quantities is tri iso butyl phosphate. A molecule present everywhere around us. "It is a flame retardant that is found in furniture fabrics, in cleaning products for the kitchen, in glues or paints" explains Franck Dubourdieu of the association of doctors against pesticides.
A presence that is all the more worrying for Clément Rossignol Puech as the mayor only buys organic cleaning products... So can we really avoid any contamination? "We can choose to eat organic food, but the air we breathe is the same for everything in the world," says François Villerette, president of the association Générations Futures. "The solutions are not only individual, but we also need answers in terms of society in order to stop discharging pollutants into the environment, the danger of which we know."
The mayor of Bègles should soon take another sample, this time in search of metals such as mercury or lead.