Further thoughts on health risks associated with inorganic spraying of vineyards

A laboratory published a study on the health risks of inorganic pesticides/fungicides used in vineyards. Now, that lab says its results were misunderstood: Wine drinkers are not at risk from the chemicals, but vineyard workers are:

The lead author said that chemical residues in wine are too small to have an effect on drinkers, but he added that vineyard workers are being exposed to a significant health risk.

"You'll consume much more pesticide residue eating apples and strawberries than drinking wine," said Pascal Chatonnet, Ph.D., owner of Excell laboratory, which works with wine and food industries in several countries, and runs labs in France, Argentina, Spain and Chile. "Your liver will be completely destroyed long before you'll have toxicity from pesticide residue in wine."

According to his analysis of 325 French wines produced between 2008 and 2010, 90 percent of the wines showed traces of up to nine molecules related to pesticides and fungicides. None of the molecules are known carcinogens, and the vast majority of wines had levels significantly below legal limits. Only 0.3 percent of the wines did not meet current regulations. "There is no health problem in drinking wine in terms of pesticides," said Chatonnet. "We have no reason to believe there are high levels of pesticides in wines."

Kenton again: It is nevertheless important to minimize or avoid inorganic chemical sprays in vineyards. The cultivation of winegrapes which contain American grapes in their parentage ("hybrids" or "modern varieties" of grapes) is the obvious answer to this problem.

Read the article here.