Sauterne-producing region hit by child cancer scare

Preignac has a child cancer rate five times the French national average and a new report says scientists cannot "exclude" the possibility of a link to pesticides sprayed on the vines. Photo / iStock

From the windows of their whitewashed school, Preignac's 300 nursery and primary pupils look over the verdant vineyards of Sauternes.

The grapes are ripe and will soon be turned into the most acclaimed sweet white wines in the world.

Yet the price for keeping the fabled grapes in good health may have been the pupils' lives. Preignac, population 2200, has a child cancer rate five times the French national average and a new report says scientists cannot "exclude" the possibility of a link to pesticides sprayed on the vines.

In December 2012, Jean-Pierre Manceau, Preignac's former mayor and a researcher at the CNRS national science research centre, alerted authorities to the cancer rate.

After reports highlighting the dangers of pesticides, France's national health monitoring institute, InSV, and the regional health agency, ASR, ordered a study on cancer cases among local children in 2013.

Their report was published on August 5 and went almost unnoticed until a local alerted the newspaper Le Parisien. It said that given the relatively small number of cases - nine in 14 years - "the excess of cancer remains moderate" but that "the contribution of pesticides to the risk of cancer cannot be excluded". It advised local authorities to ensure wine growers did not spray at playtime or "at least warn the headmistress", erect protective hedges and "wash play area equipment".

Most villagers remain nonplussed, saying that if the products were toxic, they would not be on the market.

Manceau, who said locals were worried for the local economy, is calling for a wider study on adults, saying hospital sources have said the number of cancer cases is "rocketing".

In Preignac, current mayor Jean-Gilbert Bapsalle has pledged to buy the vineyard nearest the school and create a 200m buffer zone. He added: "Sauternes is very important for the region and a bunch of grapes costs very dear."