the essential
The air pollution monitoring organization Atmo Occitanie installed a measuring point in the west of Gers last year to assess the presence of pesticides in the air. Deciphering these results with Dominique Tilak, director of Atmo Occitanie.
Can you introduce us to Atmo Occitanie in a few words?
Atmo Occitanie is an approved air pollution monitoring organization in Occitanie. We are approved by the Ministry of the Environment and we were created in 1996 by the law on air and the rational use of energy, the Laure law.
How has air quality changed since these measures existed?
These are the issues surrounding air pollution that have evolved. That is to say that at one time, there were problems, particularly in fuels, with sulfur and lead. There have been regulations, developments. Today we have fuels that are sulfur and lead free. Now the problems are more associated with nitrogen oxides which come from road traffic, with fine particles which come essentially from everything that is the combustion of wood, biomass, wood heating, plant waste and others, and occasionally from the industry. But there is little industry in the Gers.
Do you also need to monitor the presence of pesticides in the air?
Yes, since we are the second largest agricultural region in France, and the first wine-growing region in France in terms of surface area. We are monitoring endocrine disruptors starting this year to find out where we stand. And we will soon begin measuring what we call eternal pollutants, PFAS, notably through complementary work which is being carried out with other colleagues from other regions.
Are the PFAS that we find in water also found in the air?
So we look for them, that’s the beginning of the story. We are looking at what we find in the fallout of dust and rainwater.
You said that the industry does not really concern the Gers. I imagine that it is rather the agricultural activity in question on air quality?
You should know that pesticides in the air today are not subject to regulation. So if there is no regulation, there is little funding. In 2014-2015 we had a partnership with the Gers department which we were unable to renew. We had the opportunity last year through internal funding to set up a measurement point in the west of the Gers.
And what do these data tell you over the last year about the presence of pesticides in the air? I saw that you have quantified 7 molecules for the Gers site, out of around 90 that you are looking for.
Yes. For comparison, on other sites that we follow in Occitania, we have sometimes managed to measure 18 different molecules, so we are rather dealing with a relatively small variety of molecules measured. And among these molecules, we find in particular two molecules associated with herbicide-type treatments. We also find Folpen which is a fungicide used mainly in viticulture.
And the presence of these pesticides, I imagine, affects air quality in general?
There are no toxicological reference values for these molecules. Our job at Atmo Occitanie is to take measurements, compare them from one site to another in comparable or non-comparable environments, and to make all this data available, in particular to national health agencies such as the ANSES (National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety), so that they can assess the issues, either health or environmental, which may or may not be related to these molecules.
7 molecules in the Gers, 18 in other departments. Is it rather the number of molecules detected or the cumulative quantity at a given point that matters?
So we have the two indicators. And it will be Anses which one day will answer us. The work we do is useful for these agencies, but also for users, so that they can, since this data is online, know whether the molecules we find are correlated or not with treatments that would have been made nearby or in more distant areas.
And thus give recommendations or limit practices?
This measurement work is what we did with manufacturers, with oil companies, 30 years ago. We finally followed the problems and little by little, solutions emerged. Today, there is no more sulfur and lead in fuels. So, we are also in the process of putting in place environmental indicators through these measures which make it possible to monitor the evolution and progress of agriculture, the evolution and progress of the cultural practices that are implemented.
Among the 7 molecules observed in the Gers, how many are endocrine disruptors, probable or proven?
We have six endocrine disrupting molecules.
Is the air quality in rural areas not particularly better than in large cities like Toulouse?
No, exactly. There are other problems in the countryside, which could be pesticides as we have just seen. But also the wood heating devices which are developing and which must be monitored in relation to problems of particles or ultrafine particles.
