Question from Thomas
I ate these oranges from Tunisia recalled throughout France, what am I risking?
Hello Thomas,
Maltese Oranges originating in Tunisia are subject to a product recall due to the presence de chlorpyrifosun pesticide banned in the European Union since 2020.
These citrus fruits in question were sold in nets of 1.5 and 2 kilos as well as in bulk, from February 10 to 20in shops Auchan, Cora, Intermarché, Leclerc, Match and System U of the whole of France.
For sure, Thomas, you must not be the only one to have consumed them. Prior to its ban in the EU three years ago, chlorpyrifos has been used for regarding fifty years in the United States and in the member countries of the European Union in order to fight once morest aphids, caterpillars or seedcorn flies. Its authorization had been renewed in the 1990s on the basis of a study deemed to be false. The impact on health was clearly minimized, even non-existent.
A revision of its regulations was carried out in 2014. And according to data from the Health and Environment Alliance, a group of environmental NGOs, the pesticide has been banned in several European countries: Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Sweden. In France, it is banned, except for the cultivation of spinach.
Irreversible effects on children’s brains
In 2012, the American Academy of Sciences (PNAS) notably revealed problems with the development of the brain in children – impact on the thickness of the frontal cortex – whose mothers were exposed to this substance during their pregnancy.
Another study carried out in California accuses this substance of increasing “the frequency of autism and early brain damage in children exposed to chlorpyrifos before and following birth”.
Cordially.
