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Knowledge of the health and environmental effects of pollution of ambient air by chemicals has been well established for some years now. Since 1996, the Member States of the European Union have been required to implement measures for monitoring, assessing and controlling ambient air quality for different chemical pollutants. France already has regulatory values (standards) for several air pollutants. ANSES's expertise was nevertheless called upon with a view to obtaining its opinion on a potential change in ambient air quality standards for fine particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and ozone (O3). In the opinion it is publishing today, ANSES insists on the importance of pursuing efforts to implement long-term public policies in favour of improving air quality, which remains a major public health challenge. It also issues a series of recommendations regarding the potential change in standards for each of the pollutants targeted by its expert appraisal.

The Act on the future of agriculture, food and forestry of 13 October 2014 entrusted ANSES with establishing a phytopharmacovigilance scheme. Its aim is to identify potential adverse reactions to the use of plant protection products affecting human, animal and plant health, including phenomena of emerging resistance, and to better monitor their impact on the quality of environments (air, water) and food. From today, ANSES is making available an online system to facilitate the reporting of these adverse reactions.

In 2015 ANSES was asked to conduct an expert assessment on gaseous fumes emitted by decaying Sargassum seaweed. In March 2016, the Agency recommended implementing measures to protect the general public and workers in charge of collecting, transporting and processing Sargassum seaweed, from exposure to the hydrogen sulfide (H2S) produced during its decay. An update of this assessment, including a revision of the toxicological profile of H2S and a summary of the ecology, accumulation, chemistry and decomposition of Sargassum seaweed, led the Agency to additionally recommend the immediate implementation of measures to prevent the risk of exposure to the heavy metals found in seaweed - arsenic and cadmium in particular - which could be hazardous to human health and to the environment.

E171 is a food additive used as a colouring and made up of titanium dioxide (TiO2) particles, partially in nanometric form. A study published in January 2017 showed that chronic exposure of rats to E171 may cause precancerous colorectal lesions. ANSES received a request to assess whether this publication provided evidence to reconsider the conclusions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) concerning the evaluation of E171 published in September 2016. In its conclusions, the Agency points out that although the results presented in this publication do not currently call into question EFSA’s assessment, the study does demonstrate effects that had not been identified so far, specifically potential promoting effects for carcinogenesis. As a result, the Agency highlights the need to conduct the studies required to fully characterise the potential health effects related to ingestion of the food additive E171, with a methodology and schedule to be defined.