In a context of media coverage of bedbug infestations, the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) warns, Tuesday, December 5, against the use of the product Sniper 1000 EC DDVP, yet banned since 2013 for household uses. With the poison control centers, the health authority identifies “ 170 events related to the Sniper 1000 EC DDVP product from 1er January 2018 to June 30, 2023. In total, 206 people were exposed over this period.”
In question: dichlorvos, an active substance from the organophosphate family, classified as fatal by inhalation and toxic by contact with the skin or by ingestion. It can in particular cause respiratory symptoms such as asthma, ocular symptoms, neurological disorders which can lead to loss of consciousness, and a skin allergy, they detail.
Precisely, it is this substance which has been banned since 2013 in insecticides for household use, but dichlorvos can still be purchased – notably under the name Sniper 1000 EC DDVP – via “illegal circuits” such as in markets and in bazaars, particularly in the north of Paris and in Seine-Saint-Denis and, ” to a lesser extent “, on e-commerce platforms. It can also be brought from abroad (outside the European Union) or given by a third party.
An investigation opened for “manslaughter”
Poisonings due to this insecticide have been known ” a raise “ since 2018, with notably 104 cases declared between January 2022 and June 2023, “consider the increase in bedbug infestations”, notes the press release. One in nine households was infested between 2017 and 2022estimated ANSES in July. “While most of the poisonings reported to poison control centers were mild, nearly 10% were of medium severity and 5.5% of severe severity, including 3 deaths (accidental or due to ingestion with suicidal intent)”according to authorities.
The Lyon public prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation for “involuntary manslaughter”, “endangering the lives of others” and “unauthorized sale of a dangerous product” after the discovery of this insecticide in the home of a dead elderly person, a judicial source communicated to Agence France-Presse at the end of November.
On its dangerous products alert site, the government has been raising consumer awareness since November 8 about bottles of Sniper 1000 EC DDVP, asking them to no longer use them. And one of the identified distributors made a voluntary recall, relayed on the Rappel Conso site, the authorities said on Tuesday.