an agricultural company judged in Angers after the intoxication of 70 people with the pesticide

Metam sodium has been on the hot seat for 14 years. Europe had banned this pesticide in 2009. But some countries, like France, had granted an exemption to the agricultural sector, the time to find an alternative. This product “was used in the usual way by market gardeners and it had already been identified for several years as being problematic because of its effects on the environment and on human health”, explains Benjamin Hogommat, legal manager of the France Nature Environnement association.

>>> A “poison”, a “kalashnikov”… Concerns around metam-sodium, the pesticide which poisoned 70 people in Maine-et-Loire

The Nantes agricultural company Primaloire and one of its employees are tried, Monday, May 22, for “unintentional injuries” before the criminal court of Angers (Maine-et-Loire). They are accused of intoxicating at least 70 people in the department. The first effects of this poisoning appeared in the fall of 2018, near Angers, after the product was spread at a lamb’s lettuce producer. Irritation to the eyes, respiratory problems, headaches… Twenty people working in the area had to be hospitalized.

Other products “would deserve a reconsideration”

The pesticide was then withdrawn from the market by ANSES (National Medicines Safety Agency), earlier than expected, recalls Benjamin Hogommat: “The European authorities had in any case set the deadline of 2022 for the marketing of the substance metam-sodium, but we were not immune to one of the manufacturers requesting a postponement and that it was still on the market. market today”. For France Nature Environnement, it was therefore this incident that forced the authorities to react.

The trial is, adds Benjamin Hogommat, “the opportunity to remember that there are a number of other products that deserve to be reviewed. And it would be nice not to wait until there is another health scandal to be able to to forbid”. Among the 70 victims identified, only a minority filed civil suits.