What is the Pesti’home study?
After publishing the results for France at the end of 2019, ANSES is today publishing the results of the Pesti’Home DROM component, a study carried out from February to July 2015 with 608 households residing in Guadeloupe, Martinique and Reunion.
The Pesti’home study concerns pesticides available for sale to individuals : plant protection products used to protect indoor and outdoor plants, biocidal products used in the home to control insects, mites, rodents or wood parasites and molds, and human and veterinary antiparasitic drugs once morest lice , fleas or ticks.
More than one in two households uses pesticides at home
As in France, the use of pesticides at home is very widespread in the DROMs : 58.3% of households in Martinique, 70.1% of households in Reunion and 94.8% of households in Guadeloupe used pesticides at least once in the year.
Products in the form of aerosols or sprays are the most frequently used products. In the DROMs, the tropical climate favors the proliferation of insects such as mosquitoes, cockroaches and ants. The latter therefore appear to be the main target of treatment. The use of pesticide products for all uses is thus 3 to 4 times more frequent than in France.
The share of very strong usersthat is to say those using pesticides more than twice a week at least, represents nearly 1/3 of households in Reunion, 1/4 in Guadeloupe, and 1/5 in Martinique.
Products now banned found in home stocks
On the 3 islands, more than 80% of households store at least one pesticide at home, mainly in the kitchen, shed or garage. As in mainland France, some of these products, now prohibited for sale, have been found, in particular plant protection products, the purchase of which can sometimes go back 10 years or more. At the time of the survey, almost 24 % products stored in households in Guadeloupe, 27 % in Martinique and 20 % in the meeting, were prohibited for sale.
Precautions for use and disposal not sufficiently respected
In Guadeloupe and Martinique, near 80 % unused and expired products are thrown in the trash instead of being taken to the recycling center. On the island of Reunion, this figure reaches 60%.
Few users wear protective equipment such as gloves, masks or protective clothing. In a general way, precautions and recommendations for use of the products are not not always read or respected. For example, if the application of the recommended dose and the recommendations appearing on the leaflet or the packaging of the product are generally well respected on the 3 islands, this is not the case for products intended for flying insects. and crawling such as mosquitoes, cockroaches, ants nor for repellents used on the body and/or on textiles (except for Reunion).
Better inform to reduce user exposure and environmental impact
In view of these results, ANSES reiterates the recommendations issued when the mainland section of Pesti’home was published, and in particular the need to better inform heavy users of the importance of:
- read the precautions for use and to respect them: ventilation of the room where the product was used, wearing gloves when mentioned, respecting the recommended dose, etc. ;
- take the stored products to the recycling center for a long time and containing substances that are now banned, as well as empty product packaging;
- respect the storage and use conditions products, for example by ensuring that the user is informed at the time of purchase. ANSES will issue an opinion in 2021 on the end of self-service for certain biocidal products intended for the general public.
ANSES recommends that a more legible and clearer information on the composition of these products be brought to consumers by manufacturers.
Overseas and in mainland France, to limit the proliferation of insects and mosquitoes in particular, ANSES finally invites individuals to eliminate stagnant water points which constitute spawning grounds in:
- emptying the cups under the flower pots;
- cleaning the gutters to facilitate the evacuation of water;
- covering rainwater reserves.
