Cancer diagnoses among children in France are rising, with scientists increasingly linking the trend to pesticide exposure during pregnancy and early childhood, according to findings from France's public health institute Inserm. Research shows pesticides can cross the placenta and accumulate in foetal tissues, yet France remains Europe's largest consumer of pesticides and ranks third globally. In 2020, the French government established a compensation fund for victims of pesticide-related illness — recently extended to include infants exposed in the womb — with a former florist becoming its first beneficiary in 2023 after her daughter died from leukaemia linked to her prenatal pesticide exposure.