News

The WHO has recently published new guidelines on air quality, based on the latest scientific data available on the effect of atmospheric pollutants on health. They have set reference thresholds for the six main atmospheric pollutants which should not be exceeded so as to limit exposure for the population worldwide and to protect the health of all. Ineris has performed some preliminary analyses of the impact of these new guidelines on the exposure of the French population to atmospheric pollution.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has updated the candidate list for Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC). Eight new ones have been added. This list creates legal obligations for importers, producers and suppliers of articles containing one of these substances in concentrations higher than 0.1 %.

After the 2019 National Exploratory Campaign to measure pesticide residues in ambient air (CNEP, Campagne nationale exploratoire des pesticides), Atmo France together with approved air quality monitoring associations (AASQA, Associations agréées de surveillance de la qualité de l'air) and the National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks (Ineris), as part of its activities for the Central Laboratory for Monitoring Air Quality (LCSQA, Laboratoire central de surveillance de la qualité de l’air), launched at national level, on Tuesday 20 July 2021, the long-term monitoring of pesticides in the air (mainland and overseas territories).
The first data will be available in summer 2022, based on Geod’Air1 air quality data, and PhytAtmo pesticide measurements.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has recently adopted and published a new guideline, Guideline 250, to characterise endocrine disruptors. This new guideline is based on an original biological test, the EASZY test, the result of academic research carried out jointly by the National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks (Verneuil-en-Halatte), Irset (Rennes) and Academia Sinica (Taiwan) since the early 2000s.

Following the explosion in the port of Beirut on 4 August 2020, the Institute is giving technical assistance to the Lebanese government departments in order to improve the prevention of major risks on the ground.

The 8th report on the state of the Alps has just been published. It was coordinated by France as part of its presidency of the Alpine Convention in 2019-2020, and the Institute collaborated with the working group.

The National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks is participating in the European MultHyFuel project intended to develop an installation strategy for multi-fuel service stations: petrol, diesel, electric, LPG, LNG, NG including hydrogen. Our experts participated in the first technical workshop on Tuesday 8 June.

Miniaturised and low-cost instruments are being increasingly used to measure ambient air quality and their deployment gives unprecedented spatial and temporal observational cover. The SESAM (data fusion with SEnSors for Air quality Mapping) tool was developed by the National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks as part of its work for the Central Laboratory for Monitoring Air Quality (LCSQA). It serves to map pollutant concentrations at the urban level, by merging these new observations with those coming from more conventional methods and the calculations of an air quality model.

The fire that broke out at the Lubrizol premises and Normandy Logistics in September 2019 was a reminder of the importance of maintaining control and industrial risk management in a densely built-up urban setting. Against this background, the Agence nationale de la recherche (National Research Agency (ANR)) has joined together with the Normandy and Hauts-de-France regions in 2020 to launch an invitation to submit SIOMRI (Solutions Innovantes et Opérationnelles dans la Maitrise des Risques Industriels en milieu urbain et denses) (Innovative, Operational Solutions in Industrial Risk Control in densely built-up urban settings) “research-action” projects. Four of the Institute’s projects have been accepted.