no question of reauthorizing pesticides banned in France, assures Marc Fesneau

“We are not going to go back and forth permanently,” declared the Minister of Agriculture.

What direction for France’s environmental policy? The government does not hear “go back” by reauthorizing pesticides which have been banned in France, as requested by beet growers in particular regarding an insecticide, assured Tuesday, February 6, the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau.

In the context of the agricultural crisis, the General Confederation of Beet Growers (CGB), a specialized section of the majority agricultural union FNSEA, is asking to be able to once again spray acetamiprid, an insecticide from the neonicotinoid family, described as “bee killer” by environmental defenders and banned since 2016 in France.

They argue that the Germans still have this tool available to protect sugar beet plants from aphids. For the beet growers, this is an example of “overtransposition” because Paris banned neonicotinoids before its neighbors. For the CGB, the sector found itself helpless after the ban on the use of seeds coated with this substance in Europe at the end of 2022, then the only use still permitted by derogation in France.

“We are not going to go backwards”

“The European trajectory is the eventual elimination of all neonicotinoids and related products. In 2016, it was decided to ban neonicotinoids and related products, which was a mistake. Good. We are not going to make any reverse steps and permanent forward steps”, declared the Minister of Agriculture during the press conference presenting the 2024 Agricultural Show.

“If there was a need to change something, there would need to be a law. We are rather working on alternatives. (…) The subject is not to go back on these subjects. (…) If you open this box, I also have people asking me for phosmet, (…) dimethoate [des insecticides interdits dans l’UE]still with toxicities that are proven”he added.