Two comic books, Pesticides. Their Effects on the Health of Children by Laurence Huc, Sophie Caron (scenario), and Marguerite Boutrolle (illustrations), and Pesticides Kids. An Inquiry into Children Victims of Pesticides by Nolwenn Weiler and Sophie Chapelle, examine the impact of pesticides on children's health and the efforts of parents, professionals, and activists to address these issues. The comic books highlight real-life cases such as Lubin, a seven-year-old who was exposed to 108 phytosanitary products—chemicals used in agriculture—while in his mother’s womb, 55 of which are known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reprotoxic. Another case is Cloé, a seventeen-year-old battling leukemia, who recounts her experience with the disease and its impact on her life. Ophélie, Lubin’s mother, is a viticultural consultant engineer who was exposed to 108 phytosanitary products during her pregnancy without proper training or protection. She is represented by Maître Lafforgue, described as "the lawyer for desperate cases of pollution victims." Laurence Huc, a toxicologist and co-screenwriter of Pesticides. Their Effects on the Health of Children, has completed her thesis on the carcinogenic nature of hydrocarbons on the liver and seeks exogenous causes of diseases, having lost two grandparents and an aunt to cancer. The comic books also feature Annie Thébaud-Mony, a health sociologist who has worked on the asbestos scandal and continues to defend families of victims. She revisits the history of pesticides, drawing parallels to the tobacco industry and highlighting the "factory of lies" surrounding these products. Parents of affected children have created collectives such as "Stop the Cancers of Our Children" and have taken their concerns to the regional health agency (ARS) and Santé publique France. However, the ARS has been criticized for relying on questionnaires rather than conducting field investigations. Santé publique France conducts research on substances but does not correlate the findings effectively. It was the parents who cross-referenced data and discovered exceedances of lindane levels in Sainte-Pazanne dating back to 2008. Nolwenn Weiler and Sophie Chapelle, journalists at Basta!, emphasize the need to end political denial at the highest level of the state. They argue that farmers need protection from international competition and propose a "safeguard clause" to prevent the import of products cultivated with banned substances. They note that France is the largest user of pesticides in Europe by volume and that more than 300 active substances have market authorization in the country. Laurence Huc estimates that the hidden costs of pesticides in France are between 350 million and several billion euros per year. Traces of banned substances such as chlordécone can persist in urine for up to twenty years. Residents and farmers are the first exposed, but the impact extends to watercourses, fruits and vegetables, wine, and soil, potentially affecting everyone. The two books conclude with a focus on Sainte-Pazanne (Loire-Atlantique), where a school is located near an old wood processing plant that uses powerful pesticides and fungicides. Between May 2015 and May 2021, 25 children declared cancer within a 15 km radius. Investigations by health authorities concluded to a lack of evidence, with Yann Le Strat, scientific director of Santé publique France, stating that data on pesticides is limited. The comic books also address the "cancer backlash" and the ideological offensive that reduces the causes of cancer to individual behaviors, making environmental determinants invisible. Marc Billaud, a CNRS researcher, discusses this in Pesticides Kids. The comic books highlight the institutional and collective responsibility in these health scandals, with chapters titled "The Denial of Public Health Authorities" and "Lies at All Levels." Nolwenn Weiler and Sophie Chapelle revisit the Duplomb law, which reauthorized insecticides and faced significant opposition in the summer of 2025, becoming the second most signed petition after the Affair of the Century in 2018. Scientists who demonstrate the links between pesticides and diseases are accused of practicing "pseudo-science."