2023-07-06 14:46:00
In a report published last March, ANSES reports that several water tables supplying the public drinking water network would be contaminated by pesticides, explosive residues and 1,4-dioxane.
This last substance is used in particular as a solvent in the manufacture of chemicals and as a laboratory reagent.
9 departments including Île de France, Centre-Val de Loire and Hauts de France are affected by the presence of 1,4-dioxane, a solvent classified as being potentially carcinogenic by the National Institute for Research and Security (INRS). The regions of the South-East, North-West of France, Corsica and the DROMs would be spared.
Yvelines would be the most affected department with 4.8 micrograms of 1,4-dioxane per liter of water.
Why 1,4-dioxane can be carcinogenic in humans?
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry describes in an information sheet concerning 1,4-dioxane that: “Laboratory rats that breathed 1,4-dioxane vapors for most of their lives have developed cancer inside the nasal and abdominal cavities. Laboratory rats and mice that drank water containing 1,4-dioxane for most of their lives developed liver cancer; rats also have developed cancer inside the nose. »
Currently, scientists are investigating whether prolonged exposure in humans might have the same impact as in rats.
No regulations currently exist in France
Despite the risk that the solvent 1,4-dioxane is carcinogenic to humans, this substance is not regulated in France.
The ANSES report details that “WHO has set the quality criterion at 50 µg/L for drinking water. This same threshold is followed in Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Canada (Health Canada 2021). In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) recommends the maximum threshold at 0.35 µg/L for drinking water. At the same time, 33 States have established guideline values for water quality ranging from 0.25 µg/L, the most severe value for New Hampshire, to 77 µg/L for other States. In Germany, a limit of 0.1 µg/L has been introduced. »
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