Pesticides in the Air in Lower Normandy 2003-2005 by Jean Paule GOGUET
While some figures are specific to Lower Normandy, most of the information is "extendable" to the whole of France.
Introduction
Products intended to fight against organisms deemed harmful are used in large quantities in various fields: primarily agriculture, but also roads (maintenance of roads and railways), wood treatment and various private or public uses. (gardening, green spaces, treatment of premises, etc.).
The European market is the second largest market in the world. France is the largest consumer of pesticides in the European Union and the third largest in the world after the USA and Japan.
For many years, environmental quality monitoring campaigns have revealed the presence of certain pesticides and their decomposition products in soils and waters, and only recently have studies presence of pesticides in rainwater and therefore in the air we breathe.
More:
- Pesticides and housing, a legal vacuum?
- Conference on soil depletion by Claude Bourguignon
- A site for monitoring pesticides in the air in your area