Stuffed grape pesticides!

The investigation by several environmental associations, and made public this week, is disturbing. The five NGOs have, in fact, analyzed 124 samples of grapes sold in supermarkets in France, Italy, Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands.

Result: 123 of the 124 samples contained pesticide! Nearly 5% of them exceeded even the new maximum residue limits (MRL), legal limits it is in principle prohibited to exceed. Among the substances found: neurotoxic pesticides, suspected to be carcinogenic and to be "endocrine disruptors", whose effects on male fertility have been found.

And in France? Besides the fact that 100% of 25 samples were contaminated, near a cluster of two pesticides contained 10 or more. With an astonishing record: 16 herbicides in a single sample of grapes bought! Worse yet, pesticides and prohibited from use in the European Union were also found in grapes sold in France. Including endosulfan, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), where the damage is felt for years on the environment. Or an insecticide, the bromopropylate discovered in a cluster of Italian origin and is permitted for over a year.

For his part, François Veillerette, president of the Movement for the law and respect for future generations (MDRGF), the NGO who coordinated the study for France, calls on supermarket chains to "apply the standards more demanding" than those provided by law.