PestiRiv, the study on pesticides that shakes Bordeaux wines – archyworldys

The study has not yet started but it is already worrying the wine industry. So much so that Bernard Farges, the boss of the very influential Bordeaux Wine Interprofessional Council (CIVB) took up his pen at the beginning of October, to be moved by the prefect of the New Aquitaine region, Fabienne Buccio. The National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) and Public Health France (SpF) announced on Tuesday, October 19, the launch of PestiRiv, the largest study of exposure to pesticides residents of wineries currently operating in France.

If viticulture was chosen, we explain to SpF, it is on the one hand that “Nesting” between dwellings and cultivated plots is greater than for other types of crops and on the other hand that “Health signals are coming back to us from wine-growing areas, notably with cases of pediatric cancer clusters close to these areas”. The study will take place in two stages: from October 2021 to February 2022, then from March to August 2022 to include a period of treatments. The results are not expected until 2024.

The prospect of their publication is, however, already in turmoil the boss of the CIVB. “We are not convinced that ANSES and SpF, once the analysis and dissemination work has been carried out, will make the necessary educational and contradictory effort to avoid hasty conclusions, ignoring all scientific rigor ”, wrote Bernard Farges in his letter of 1^er October, of which The world was able to take notice.

“Scientific rigor”

The representative of Bordeaux winegrowers warns the Prefect that his organization will not participate in the next meeting scheduled for November 10: “We will not support this approach, neither with the Gironde wine companies, nor with the mayors of the municipalities concerned. ” A thinly veiled threat that can jeopardize PestiRiv, the realization of which involves the cooperation of winegrowers, who will have to share with the agencies their spreading schedule and the products they use. Contacted, the CIVB declined to comment.

“No discussion was opened, neither on the sampling, nor on the protocol, nor on the policy of dissemination of the results to come”, reproaches Mr. Farges in his letter. “Stakeholders are informed, we assure SpF. But none, neither wine professionals nor NGOs have a say in the protocol. This is the guarantee of its scientific rigor. “

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