Dietary exposure to pesticide residues and associated health risks in infants and young children – Results of the French infant total diet study

A total diet study (TDS) was undertaken to estimate the chronic dietary exposure to pesticide residues and health risks for the French infants and young children below 3 years old. As a whole, 516 pesticides and metabolites were analysed in 309 food composite samples including 219 manufactured baby foods and 90 common foods, which cover 97% of infants and young children's diet. These composite samples were prepared using 5,484 food products purchased during all seasons from 2011 to 2012 and processed as consumed. Pesticide residues were detected in 67% of the samples and quantified in 27% of the baby food samples and in 60% of the common foods. Seventy-eight different pesticides were detected and 37 of these quantified at levels ranging from 0.02 to 594 µg/kg. The most frequently detected pesticides (greater than 5% samples) were (1) the fungicides 2-phenylphenol, azoxystrobin, boscalid, captan and its metabolite tetrahydrophthalimide, carbendazim, cyprodinil, difenoconazole, dodine, imazalil, metalaxyl, tebuconazole, thiabendazole, (2) the insecticides acetamiprid, pirimiphos-methyl and thiacloprid, (3) the herbicide metribuzin and (4) the synergist piperonyl butoxide. Dietary intakes were estimated for each of the 705 individuals studied and for 431 pesticides incl. 281 with a toxicological reference value (TRV). In the lower-bound scenario, which tends to underestimate the exposure, the TRV were never exceeded. In the upper-bound scenario that overestimates exposure, the estimated intakes exceeded the TRV for dieldrin and lindane (two persistent organic pollutants) and propylene thiourea, a metabolite of propineb. For these three substances, more sensitive analyses are needed to refine the assessment. For 17 other detected and/or prioritised pesticides, the risk could not be characterised due to the lack of a valid TRV, of certain food analyses or the absence of analytical standards for their metabolites. Keywords: Food safety, Infants and young children, Pesticide residues, Total diet study, Exposure assessment, Risk characterizatio

Airborne fungal volatile organic compounds in rural and urban dwellings detection of mould contamination in 94 homes determined by visual inspection and airborne fungal volatile organic compounds method.

International audienceMoulds can both degrade the materials and structures they colonise and contribute to the appearance of symptoms and diseases in the inhabitants of contaminated dwellings. Only few data have compared the levels of contamination in urban and rural environments and the results are not consistent. The aim of this study was to use a fungal contamination index, based on the detection of specific Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds (MVOC), to determine the exposure to moulds of individuals living in urban and rural dwellings. For this purpose, 94 dwellings (47 in an urban setting in Clermont-Ferrand and 47 in rural areas of the Auvergne region, France) were studied. By demonstrating marked disparities between the proportion of visible contamination (19%) and that of active, visible and/or hidden contamination (59%) and the fact that almost all visible contamination was identified by MVOC, we were able to show that use of the index seemed relevant to confirm the actual presence of fungal contamination in a dwelling. Furthermore, it was possible to demonstrate a relationship between moulds and the presence of water on surfaces (condensation, infiltrations, water damage, etc.). A higher proportion of positive fungal contamination index in rural homes was observed compared to the proportion in urban ones (68% versus 49%; p<0.05)

Caractérisation d’un établissement antique en basalte en grande Limagne – Évaluation de l’apport de la méthode d’induction électromagnétique (EMI)

International audienceLa caractérisation de structures archéologiques en contexte volcanique et plus spécifiquement lorsqu'elles sont constituées de matériaux basaltiques présente des particularités qui limitent l'emploi de certaines méthodes couramment utilisées. A travers une étude de cas dans la région clermontoise, ce travail propose de mettre en évidence l'intérêt des méthodes électromagnétiques basse fréquence sur ce type de vestiges et dans ce type de contexte tout en dressant au préalable les limites des autres techniques d'investigation. Dans un second temps, seront exposés les enjeux mais également les limites et difficultés de la méthode EMI pour la caractérisation des vestiges archéologiques notamment par le biais de la susceptibilité magnétique

3D imaging of subsurface magnetic permeability / susceptibility with portable frequency domain electromagnetic sensors for near surface exploration

International audienceThe in-phase response collected by portable loop–loop electromagnetic induction (EMI) sensors operating at low and moderate induction numbers (≤1) is typically used for sensing the magnetic permeability (or susceptibility) of the subsurface. This is due to the fact that the in-phase response contains a small induction fraction and a preponderant induced magnetization fraction. The magnetization fraction follows the magneto-static equations similarly to the magnetic method but with an active magnetic source. The use of an active source offers the possibility to collect data with several loop–loop configurations, which illuminate the subsurface with different sensitivity patterns. Such multiconfiguration soundings thereby allows the imaging of subsurface magnetic permeability/susceptibility variations through an inversion procedure. This method is not affected by the remnant magnetization and theoretically overcomes the classical depth ambiguity generally encountered with passive geomagnetic data. To invert multiconfiguration in-phase data sets, we propose a novel methodology based on a full-grid 3-D multichannel deconvolution (MCD) procedure. This method allows us to invert large data sets (e.g. consisting of more than a hundred thousand of data points) for a dense voxel-based 3-D model of magnetic susceptibility subject to smoothness constraints. In this study, we first present and discuss synthetic examples of our imaging procedure, which aim at simulating realistic conditions. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of our method to field data collected across an archaeological site in Auvergne (France) to image the foundations of a Gallo-Roman villa built with basalt rock material. Our synthetic and field data examples demonstrate the potential of the proposed inversion procedure offering new and complementary ways to interpret data sets collected with modern EMI instruments

Prosulfocarb at center stage!

International audienceProsulfocarb is a thiocarbamate herbicide that is rapidly growing in use due to the progressive bioresistance of weeds to certain pesticides and the ban and/or limitation of others. However, the use of prosulfocarb is only recent, and the relevant literature is scarce. The environmental and food impact of prosulfocarb has already been observed, and its transfer mode from targeted crops to untargeted parcels has been investigated. This expertise highlights the volatilization effect to explain the pollution of lone parcels and hedge inefficiency against residue spreads

Prosulfocarb at center stage!

International audienceProsulfocarb is a thiocarbamate herbicide that is rapidly growing in use due to the progressive bioresistance of weeds to certain pesticides and the ban and/or limitation of others. However, the use of prosulfocarb is only recent, and the relevant literature is scarce. The environmental and food impact of prosulfocarb has already been observed, and its transfer mode from targeted crops to untargeted parcels has been investigated. This expertise highlights the volatilization effect to explain the pollution of lone parcels and hedge inefficiency against residue spreads

Multi-Method Geophysical Survey of Caesar’s Military System at the Battle of Gergovie

International audienceWe used different geophysical technics to map Caesar’s military system. Low frequency electromagnetic system allowed to reduce disturbances induced by basaltic blocks. Old archaeological hypothesis were verified and corrected based on the new geophysical results

Dietary exposure to polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans and polychlorinated biphenyls of the French population: Results of the French infant Total Diet Study

International audienc

Identification of pesticides exposure biomarkers for residents living close to vineyards in France

International audienceBiomonitoring can be relevant for assessing pesticides exposure of residents living close to vineyards (LCTV). However, because xenobiotics are generally present at low levels in human biological matrices and the sources of pesticide exposure are multiple, several challenges need to be overcome to reliably assess exposure in residents LCTV. This includes particularly identifying the most appropriate exposure biomarkers, the biological matrices in which they should be measured, and analytical methods that are sufficiently sensitive and specific to quantify them. The aim of the present study was to develop a tiered approach to identify relevant biomarkers and matrices for assessing pesticide exposure in residents LCTV. We used samples from a biobank for 121 adults and children included in a national prevalence study conducted between 2014 and 2016 who lived near or far from vineyards. We analyzed five priority pesticides (folpet, mancozeb, tebuconazole, glyphosate, and copper) and their metabolites in urine and hair samples. We identified relevant biomarkers according to three criteria related to: i) the detection frequency of those pesticides and metabolites in urine and hair, ii) the difference in concentrations depending on residence proximity to vineyards and, iii) the influence of other environmental and occupational exposure sources on pesticide levels. This tiered approach helped us to identify three relevant metabolites (two metabolites of folpet and one of tebuconazole) that were quantified in urine, tended to be higher in residents LCTV than in controls, and were not significantly influenced by occupational, dietary, or household sources of pesticide exposure. Our approach also helped us to identify the most appropriate measurement strategies (biological matrices, analytical methods) to assess pesticide exposure in residents LCTV. The approach developed here was a prerequisite step for guiding a large-scale epidemiological study aimed at comprehensively measuring pesticides exposures in French residents LCTV with a view to developing appropriate prevention strategies