France must improve farm pesticide rules for workers and locals
The court said that the current regulations are insufficient and do not provide enough protection for people living and working close to pesticide spreading, especially in rural areas
The minimum distances for pesticide spreading near homes and buildings set by the government in 2019 are 鈥渋nsufficient鈥�, the court says
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France鈥檚 highest administrative court has given the government six months to define the rules on pesticide spreading, in a bid to 鈥渂etter protect the population鈥�.
Le Conseil d鈥橢tat yesterday (July 26).
After several months of debate, in December 2019 the government set a series of minimum distances required when spreading pesticides on crops close to buildings.
These are:
- Five metres for 鈥榣ow鈥� crops, such as vegetables and cereal
- 10 metres for 鈥榟igh鈥� crops, such as fruit and vines
These could also be shortened to three metres and five metres respectively when permitted by departmental authorities. These shorter distances were campaigned for by pesticide users, such as non-organic farmers, and were validated by local prefects.
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But le Conseil d鈥橢tat said that these rules had been highly contested on all sides.
It said: 鈥淭hese minimum distances were contested before le Conseil d鈥橢tat by associations, communes, and organic farmers, who said they were not far enough; and [on the other side] by non-organic farmers and the chamber of agriculture, who considered them to be excessive.鈥�
This is despite the health safety agency l'Agence nationale de s茅curit茅 sanitaire (Anses) recommending 鈥渁 minimum distance of 10 metres between homes and spreading zones of all products classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic, whether their effects are proven, presumed, or only suspected.鈥�
Le Conseil d鈥橢tat has therefore ruled that the minimum distances set by the government in 2019 are 鈥渋nsufficient鈥�.
It is now asking the government to 鈥減ut in place protection measures for people who work close to an area in which pesticides are being used, which the current regulation does not do鈥�.
It stated that 鈥渃harters of [pesticide] use must include information about residents and people present near the spreading zones鈥�.
The authority has now given the government six months to review and comply with the ruling, and has said that the shorter limits that were 鈥渁pproved by local prefects鈥� are not valid, because 鈥渢hese cannot legally be decided by a decree, but by law鈥�, after a decision by the Conseil constitutionnel in March 2021.
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