11/04/2022

Frequently asked questions

In any case of emergency, dial 15 (in France) or 112 immediately.

Contact a hospital emergency department for all serious disorders.

Consult your doctor for any other disorder.

In the event of exposure to a potentially toxic product, contact the nearest Poison Control Centre.

Do you have a question for ANSES? 

You can search for an answer among the various topics in our index.

Important! ANSES does not diagnose or assess personal health issues.

Below you will find our answers to the most frequently asked questions.

Biocides

  • You can visit the SIMMBAD website: simmbad.fr (in French)

Communication, documents, brochures

All of the Agency's graphics are published under a Creative Commons licence. You can use them provided that you give credit to ANSES, do not modify them and do not use them for commercial purposes.

As part of its policy in favour of a sustainable environment, ANSES no longer provides leaflets or documents in printed form. All its documentation can be consulted and downloaded from its website.

Food supplements

  • Consult your doctor or pharmacist, who will report the adverse event to ANSES as part of the nutrivigilance scheme.
  • If you have not consulted a healthcare professional and do not plan to do so, you can report it on the Adverse Health Event Reporting Portal (in French) of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.

COVID-19

Find all relevant information and recommendations on the website of the French government (in French).

You can also read the recommendations of the Ministry of Health (in French)

The Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition has provided access to a set of information relating to the measures taken for the production of hand sanitiser gels during the COVID-19 epidemic. To view this information, visit its website: ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/produits-biocides (in French)

If the information you are looking for is not available on this site, you can contact the Biocides Helpdesk, which will be able to answer your questions: helpdesk-biocides.fr/index.php?lang=en

The Ministry of Labour has prepared a number of information sheets for professionals to assist them during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can find detailed advice, activity by activity, at: travail-emploi.gouv.fr/le-ministere-en-action/coronavirus-covid-19/ (in French)

The INRS has also published FAQs for professionals: inrs.fr/actualites/COVID-19-et-entreprises.html (in French)

The Ministry of Health has a sheet of recommendations on aeration, ventilation and air-conditioning during the COVID-19 epidemic: solidarites-sante.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/covid-19-aeration-ventilation-climatisation.pdf (PDF) (in French)

Please visit the website of the Directorate General for Enterprise, which can answer your questions:
entreprises.gouv.fr/covid-19/liste-des-tests-masques-de-protection (in French)

ANSES is not competent to test the quality of the masks produced. You can find a list of competent companies on the website of the Directorate General for Enterprise: entreprises.gouv.fr/covid-19/entreprises-comment-faire-tester-masques (in French)

G6PD deficiency - Favism

Request for a laboratory analysis

If you are an individual, please contact your Departmental Directorate for the Protection of Populations (DDPP), which will be able to respond to your request:

ANSES can carry out official analyses at the request of the State, in particular as part of its reference missions. Beyond that, the analyses that can be performed by ANSES as part of service provision are detailed in its catalogue of services.

Request for an interview/press request

Importing or marketing a food product

Veterinary medicinal products

Nutrition

Tobacco and related products (vaping, smokable plants)

  • If it is an emergency, dial 15 (in France), or call the Poison Control Centre in your region (in French)
  • If it is not an emergency, you can report it on the Adverse Health Event Reporting Portal of the Ministry of Health: signalement.social-sante.gouv.fr (in French) (choose Everyday Product/Substance). Your data will be transferred to the Poison Control Centre covering your region, which may call you for further information.

Plant protection products, pesticides, biocontrol products

Radiofrequencies / Linky

ANSES has published a wide range of work on exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (mobile telephones, radios, televisions, etc.) and low-frequency electromagnetic fields (electricity transmission and distribution, household appliances, etc.). You can find a summary of this work, and the various opinions issued, in our dedicated article. ANSES's work has focused in particular on Linky smart meters.

None of this work has shown any proven risk to human health at the exposure levels encountered in our daily lives.

To find out the level of exposure to electromagnetic fields in your home, you can contact the ANFR.

The main sources of exposure to radiofrequencies for the general public are mobile phones, when they are placed close to the body. You can limit your exposure by taking some simple measures, as described in the brochure issued by the Ministry of Ecological Transition (in French).

You can also find information on radiofrequencies and health on the dedicated portal set up by the government (in French).

It is up to your employer to assess the risks for employees, taking into account in particular the Decree of 3 August 2016 transposing Directive 2013/35/EU on the exposure of workers to electromagnetic fields. The INRS reviews all the current provisions concerning the assessment of risks related to exposure to electromagnetic fields in the workplace in a feature on its website (in French).

The INRS has also designed an application called Oseray to help employers determine the actions to be taken for risk assessment.

In 2018, the Agency published an expert appraisal report on electrohypersensitivity (EHS). You can find a summary of this work and the corresponding report as well as our recommendations for dealing with EHS in our article.

Moreover, ANSES funds studies to better understand EHS, in particular through its call for research projects on "Radiofrequencies and health", for which EHS is a priority.

Lastly, you can find support from occupational and environmental disease consultation centres. A list of these centres that receive electrohypersensitive people is available on the National Radiofrequencies & Health Portal (in French).

Given the very low levels of exposure to electromagnetic fields generated by Linky meters, it is very unlikely that these could have an effect on the functioning of an implanted medical device.

In 2015, ANSES published an opinion and an expert appraisal report on the consequences of extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields on animal health and zootechnical performance (PDF).

Concerning mobile communication technologies, ANSES has not produced a specific expert appraisal report on the effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields on animal health. However, the numerous experimental studies carried out on animals, assessed during expert appraisals on the impact of electromagnetic fields on human health (see all our work on our dedicated page), do not enable, in the current state of knowledge, a causal link to be established between environmental exposure to electromagnetic fields (in particular mobile phone base stations) and health effects.

Recruitment - applying for an internship, thesis or job

  • Visit the Human Resources page

Occupational health

  • Consult your occupational physician