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In France, drinking water largely contaminated with residues of a banned fungicide
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According to a report by the National Health Security Agency, published Thursday, the drinking water distributed in France would be largely contaminated by the metabolite of chlorothalonil R471811, a fungicide banned in France since 2020. It is the most frequently found metabolite. and leads to overruns of the quality limit in more than one out of three samples.
Drinking water in France is largely contaminated by residues from a fungicide banned for several years, a sign of the persistence in the environment of traces of pesticides even long following the end of their use, according to an ANSES report published on Thursday 6 April.
The National Health Security Agency (ANSES) studied water samples throughout the territory, including overseas territories, in particular looking for 157 pesticides and their metabolites, i.e. the components from their degradation. “Of the 157 compounds sought, 89 were quantified at least once in raw water and 77 in treated water”, indicates ANSES.
One case particularly attracted the attention of experts: the metabolite of chlorothalonil R471811 – the most frequently found, “in more than one out of two samples” – which led to the quality limit being exceeded (0.1 µg/litre ) “in more than one in three levies”.
This metabolite comes from the degradation in the environment of chlorothalonil, a fungicide that has been banned in France since 2020. The French authorities had been alerted to its frequent presence in Swiss drinking water.
“These results show that, depending on their properties, certain pesticide metabolites can remain present in the environment for several years following the banning of the active substance from which they originated”, concludes ANSES.
A grace period until May 2020
The European Commission had not renewed in 2019 the authorization of chlorothalonil, marketed by the German Syngenta, and France had granted a grace period until May 2020 for the disposal of stocks of the product.
Brussels then underlined that it was “impossible to date to establish that the presence of metabolites of chlorothalonil in groundwater will not have harmful effects on human health”.
The Commission quoted the conclusions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which considered that chlorothalonil “should be classified as a category 1B carcinogen”, that is to say a “suspected” carcinogen.
ANSES took up this argument in a note last year, recalling that studies on chlorothalonil had identified “kidney tumors in rats and mice”.
The agency highlighted the “lack of data to prove that the metabolite chlorothalonil R471811 does not share the mode of action of the parent SA (active substance) leading to renal tumours”.
Contacted by AFP, the Professional Federation of Water Companies (FP2E), the Ministry of Ecological Transition and that of Agriculture had not reacted Thursday at the start of the followingnoon.
These revelations come as the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, wants to reconsider the procedure for banning another product, the agricultural herbicide S-metolachlor, not yet banned by the European Union.
ANSES announced on February 15 its desire to ban the main uses of this molecule, whose chemical derivatives have been detected beyond the authorized limits in groundwater.
“I will not be the minister who will abandon strategic decisions for our food sovereignty at the sole discretion of an agency”, had launched the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau.
With AFP
Storm – LASK 1: 0: Tomi Horvat slams the Blackys into the cup final
Football Austria has its dream final in the cup. Sturm followed Rapid into the final with a 1-0 win over LASK. The country’s two largest football clubs will play out the title on April 30th. For the first time since 2018, Salzburg won’t win the cup title – and like back then, it can be SK Sturm celebrating the trophy. And if the final on April 30th is as intense as the semifinals between Sturm and LASK – it would be a more than just worthy final.
The fact that the semi-final duel between Sturm and LASK had started 30 minutes later due to a medical emergency didn’t do the game bad. From the beginning it was back and forth. The first dangerous ball flew through the Linz penalty area in the first minute of the game, followed by two shots from LASK (4′, 5′) and then Emanuel Emegha tested Alexander Schlager (5′) for the first time. Both teams did not stay in midfield, depth was the declared goal. Sturm sought this through the speed of Emegha, LASK relied on the footballing skills of Robert Zulj, who gave Grazers headaches time and time once more.
Comment: Success is not the same as success
Linz were also the better team for long stretches of the first half. Storm coach Christian Ilzer repeatedly asked his team to be more compact. And he obviously found the right words in the dressing room. In the second round, Sturm clearly dictated what happened. The ball ran better, the counter-pressing grabbed and the LASK hardly came into its own.
The strong Tomi Horvat was then the first to put more than one pinprick. In the 68th minute, the Slovenian drew irresistibly from the right inwards and shot his left foot into the far post. A dream goal. It stayed with this one. “It’s a very good feeling and I’m very happy that we won,” said the gold goalscorer. “I had space, I wanted to shoot and it was a good shot. I always work on that in training.”
The fact that nothing changed in the score was partly due to the fact that Zulj did not hit the ball properly on his own and missed an excellent equalizer for Linz. And on the other hand, that Albian Ajeti found his master following a counterattack in Schlager. Sturm defended courageously, LASK might not get any noteworthy conclusion, only Zulj put a free kick into the wall from a dangerous distance shortly before the final whistle. That was it.
“It was a spectacle, especially in the first half, and a game in which both deserved the final,” said Sturm coach Christian Ilzer following the game. “The game plan wasn’t perfect, because there were also phases in which LASK was superior to us. In the end, however, we were better by Alzerl. LASK has enormous quality on the offensive and it was important to defuse it compactly. But it was the individual quality of the attacking players that made the history of this game.”
And so, like in 2018, the people of Graz can once once more bring a title to Styria. At that time, the team with coach Heiko Vogel prevailed once morest Salzburg. Now Rapid is waiting. “Rapid vs. Sturm is definitely a final that some people in Austria wished for,” said Ilzer. It is the first time that Sturm and Hütteldorfer face each other in a final. Sturm has already won the cup title five times.
“Al-Ahly Capital”: We maintain our positive long-term view of the Saudi health care sector. Here are our expectations for the profits of 5 companies, our recommendation and the target price for their shares
Al-Rajhi Capital affirmed its long-term positive view of the Saudi healthcare sector, expecting a 3-fold increase in insurance penetration and an improvement in the accounts receivable cycle, expecting that the capacity of the sector will record a compound annual growth rate of 10% during 2022-2025, while revenues are expected to grow and net income at a compound annual growth rate of 13.7% and 21.7%, respectively.
NCB Capital expects the sector’s earnings to grow by 30% year-on-year in 2023, supported by strong performance across covered stocks, likely to increase the number of beds by 15% in 2023, while EBITDA margins are expected to expand from 25.3% in 2022. to 27.0% in 2025, adding that Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Group is expected to record net income growth of 32% year on year in 2023, with increased patient turnout and margin improvement, and Mouwasat is expected to achieve net income of 771 million riyals for the year 2023 , supported by a high patient influx.
On the other hand, it is estimated that Al-Hammadi will achieve profits of 307 million riyals in 2023 (+26.2% on an annual basis) due to improved utilization and lower consumption expenses, expecting Dallah Company to record a net income of 328 million riyals for the year 2023 on improving efficiency and increasing the number of beds.
On the other hand, “Al-Ahly Capital” recommended neutrality for the shares of the 5 companies included in the coverage, with a target price of 256.4 riyals for Dr. Sulaiman Al-Habib Group, 225 riyals for Al-Mouwasat, 55.2 riyals for Al-Hammadi, 34 riyals for the German and 156.8 riyals for Dallah Health Company.
She added that although the outlook for the sector is positive, it is fully priced at current levels, noting that in general it prefers companies that have strong expansion plans, an appropriate mix of customers and a healthy cash cycle.