Press Area

Type D influenza is a flu virus that mainly affects cattle. However, ANSES's Ploufragan-Plouzané-Niort Laboratory recently isolated the virus in pigs for the first time in France. This crossing between species illustrates the importance of research aimed at improving the study of a possible risk of virus transmission to humans.

Every year in December, ANSES finalises and then publishes its work programme. The 2025 programme will be published once the resources available to ANSES are known, and possibly after determining its scientific priorities.

ANSES has published the list of research projects selected following the call for proposals of the National Research Programme for Environmental and Occupational Health, issued in late 2023. The projects will receive a total of €7.78 million in funding. This research seeks to provide new knowledge on environmental risks to human health in the general or occupational populations, as well as on risks to ecosystems.

ANSES's Nancy Laboratory for Hydrology celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. The safety of water is embedded in its DNA. Under the impact of climate change and new lifestyle patterns, this issue has become a major concern for society. Sophie Lardy-Fontan, its director, presents the laboratory.

Occupational diseases suffer from under-reporting and a lack of recognition. The procedures are based on occupational disease tables, some of which are obsolete in relation to current scientific knowledge and medical practice. ANSES has made several proposals with a view to making it easier to update the existing tables. As part of its expert appraisal work, it also identified some diseases not covered by the tables, which therefore need to be included in the work programmes of the occupational disease committees.

The metabolic activity of cells could be used to determine the concentration above which a substance is toxic. A study conducted by ANSES scientists has explored this innovative approach, which could identify the concentration above which a substance poses a risk to human health based on in vitro test results.

The European Commission intends to revise the recommendations on safety and efficacy claims for sunscreen products it issued to industry in 2006. Its aim is to provide consumers with better guidance when choosing and using these products. ANSES has produced an opinion in support of this revision that calls for the recommendation to be made clearer and more restrictive, in order to provide better protection for users of sunscreen products.