The hunt for neonicotinoids is on. THE’authorization to use these pesticides harmful to bees, the environment and health has been debated in the National Assembly since March 2016. It was during the third reading of the text, on the night of Wednesday 22 to Thursday 23 June 2016, that MEPs finally voted for a ban on neonicotinoids from September 1, 2018 on all crops.
Possible exemptions until 2020
The text nevertheless provides for exemptions which may be granted until July 1, 2020 “by a joint decree of the ministers responsible for agriculture, the environment and health“according to the results of a comparison of the benefits and risks of neonicotinoids and substitute products. This measure results from a standoff between the National Assembly and the Senate. While the latter wanted a gradual reduction in the The use of these pesticides without a deadline, the Assembly initially advocated a total ban, without derogation, for September 1, 2017.
An insufficient measure for environmental protection associations
Environmental associations have expressed their dissatisfaction with this final decision. The association Future generations denounces thus “a real setback in the face of pressure from the National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA) and agrochemical lobbies“. For its part, the Nicolas Hulot Foundation for Nature and Man announced in a statement “[regretter] that this ban be added, until 2020, a possibility of derogation decided by ministerial decree even though the alternatives exist and that 2 years are sufficient to remove these products from the farms. Especially since these pesticides, with great persistence, will really disappear from the soil and water only two years after their ban.“. In January 2016, the French Food and Health Safety Agency (ANSES) warned about the risks associated with neonicotinoids and asked the French government to ban them as soon as possible. By decimating bees and other pollinating insects, these substances harm the environment and jeopardize the future of agricultural crops dependent on pollination. Thus, if bees were to disappear, global human mortality would increase by 3%, according to one harvard university study.
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