What are arsenic compounds?

Mineral derivatives of arsenic (lead arsenate, calcium arsenate, sodium arsenite, etc.) are pesticides that were used on various agricultural crops until they were banned in 1973. After that date, and until 2001, only the use of sodium arsenite in viticulture was authorized. This substance was sprayed on grapevines to treat certain wood diseases. Arsenic compounds are classified as definite carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the European Union. They are capable of causing various cancers (lung, bladder, skin) with a latency period between exposure and the onset of the disease that is often very long (on average 20 to 40 years).

A retrospective study by Santé publique France provides the first precise prevalence data

A 1999 study estimated the total number of workers exposed to arsenic and its compounds in France from 1990 to 1993 at 25,920. However, this estimate was indirect (an extrapolation based on data from other countries). To determine more precisely the number of workers exposed to arsenic derivatives in France, a retrospective assessment was conducted by Santé publique France as part of the Matphyto project.

By constructing a vineyard-arsenic pesticide crop-exposure matrix (MCE), the Matphyto project assessed the use of arsenic derivatives in viticulture in metropolitan France and determined their prevalence of use from 1945 to 2001, the date of their ban. This prevalence of use made it possible to estimate the prevalence of exposure to arsenic-based pesticides, which ranges from 20% to 35% among individuals working on professional vineyards. Cross-referencing this dataset with the agricultural censuses of 1979, 1988, and 2000 provided the number of vineyard workers exposed to arsenic-based pesticides for each census year, as well as a description (age, sex, working hours, etc.) of this population.

This research estimates that, over the periods studied (1979, 1988, and 2000), between 60,000 and 100,000 people worked on farms using arsenic-based pesticides for vine treatment. These individuals worked on vineyards that, according to the vineyard-arsenic pesticide MCE, used nearly 15 kg of arsenic in 1979, 18.4 kg in 1988, and 26.8 kg in 2000. These figures represent average amounts of arsenic used per farm; the increase in these amounts is not due to an increase in the dose per hectare but to an increase in the average vineyard area per farm: 4.2 ha in 1979, 5.3 ha in 1988, and 7.6 ha in 2000.

Such data enable the implementation of secondary and tertiary prevention targeted at the identified population, particularly to prevent the development or progression of certain cancers induced by arsenic derivatives, by intervening at the earliest possible stage. The onset of any condition listed in Table 10 of the agricultural scheme should prompt patients and the medical community to investigate a possible occupational cause for the disease and to consider potential compensation under the recognition of an occupational disease.

Learn more:

• Prevalence of exposure of winegrowers to arsenic-based pesticides between 1979 and 2001 – Matphyto Project.

• Use of metropolitan agricultural censuses for cross-referencing with Matphyto crop-exposure matrices: what population data are available?

• Use of metropolitan agricultural censuses for cross-referencing with Matphyto crop-exposure matrices: how to identify farms that professionally cultivate grapes?

Pesticides File

• Occupational exposure to pesticides.

CIPA

• Technical details on the compilation of the Acta phytosanitary indices.

• CIPA - Matphyto Database.

Matphyto Project

• The MATPHYTO program. Crop-exposure matrices for plant protection products

• Technical details on occupational exposure to arsenic-based pesticides. Crop-exposure matrix for arsenic-based pesticides

• The Matphyto program: crop-exposure matrices for plant protection products. Example of crop-exposure matrices for arsenic-based pesticides

Matphyto-DOM Antilles

• Assessment of occupational exposure to pesticides used in banana cultivation in the French West Indies and description of their health effects. Matphyto DOM Project.

• Technical document for the development of the crop-exposure matrix for dessert bananas in the Antilles. Matphyto DOM Project.