France to ban "more than half" of the uses of glyphosate in 2021

In 2017, France set itself the goal of completely banning glyphosate in 2023, before Emmanuel Macron believes that this was not possible.

The deputies did not enshrine in law the ban on glyphosate by 2021 despite Emmanuel Macron's promise.

The government will ban "more than half" of the uses of glyphosate, a very controversial weedkiller, "from the start of next year," Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili said on Tuesday.

“On glyphosate we have an ongoing mission (which is) rather making good progress in the research so that we have alternatives. So we are going to have glyphosate bans on certain uses from the start of next year, ”the Minister declared on France Inter radio.

In 2017, France set itself the goal of ending most of the use of glyphosate in 2021, and a total ban in 2023. At the beginning of 2019, President Emmanuel Macron declared that France would not succeed in go “to 100%” glyphosate in three years.

"The sector did not follow"

The use of this controversial molecule, which has in particular been the subject of numerous legal actions in the United States, has recently been called into question in France by the action of a group of mayors who have issued decrees - in general attacked by administrative justice - prohibition or restriction of its use.

In addition, Barbara Pompili assured "that we will find alternatives" to the use of neonicotinoids, a banned insecticide, for which the government has just tabled a project which is also controversial.

The minister, who in 2016 as Secretary of State for Biodiversity had brought the initial prohibition text, considered that this exemption - at the request of the sugar beet industry - was "a typical example of the problems that we encounter when we are not sufficiently vigilant about the application of the laws that we pass”.

“In four years we had time to find alternatives, including beets, the problem is that behind it did not follow.

The sector did not follow, it dragged its feet, research did not advance to find sufficient alternatives and then the State and the parliamentarians did not sufficiently play their role”.

“I still think neonicotinoids are very dangerous. I still think that they must be totally banned, I am very proud that at present there are more than 91% of uses that are banned in France. Now we need the last small step. The piloting which was lacking for four years, there we will have it with (the Minister of Agriculture) Julien Denormandie and the alternatives we will find” she assured.