Glyphosate : France will oppose its reauthorization

Sarah Alcalay/SIPA

Published the 30.08.2017 at 15h18

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glyphosatepesticideNicolas Hulot

Victory. France will vote against the re-authorisation of glyphosate, has announced Future Generations, citing a information of the media specialist Agra Press. The minister of ecological Transition and solidarity announced on Tuesday during a trip to Britain. The pressure of citizens, as illustrated by one petition that has gathered more than 23,000 signatures in two weeks, will have borne fruit.

So far, Nicolas Hulot has mostly been conspicuous by its silence on this sensitive issue. The reregistration of glyphosate is the subject of intense discussions at the european Commission. The previous government had opposed, by the voice of Ségolène Royal, a re-authorisation for ten years of the herbicide manufactured by Monsanto, considered as probably carcinogenic by the IARC (International agency for Research on Cancer). But it was not known, until now, the position of the new government and its minister of Ecology, freshly appointed.

Big doubts

However, doubts were allowed. Already, on endocrine disruptors, Nicolas Hulot has showered many hopes. In early July, the minister approved the definition proposed by the european Commission – a definition that would allow the prohibition of a number of mutagenic substances.
The text, which is strongly criticized by environmental associations and scientists, requires a level of evidence as it is in practice almost impossible to classify such substances among the endocrine disruptors. And yet, it has received the vote and the endorsement of Nicolas Hulot, that has experienced more radical.

Concerned, NGOS have anticipated the folder of glyphosate in enhancing the pressure on the government. The petition, launched by Future Generations, demanded that Nicolas Hulot continue the policy of opposition to the glyphosate committed to the european Commission. It has forced the minister to position himself.

So it is a done thing. According to Agra printing Press, the standing Committee of the EU in charge of the case (Scopaff) will meet on 5 and 6 October in Brussels for a new vote on the glyphosate. “During the last vote in 2016, France and Malta had voted against, seven countries abstained, blocking the decision,” recalls the media. The reauthorization had been extended for another 18 months, awaiting a new vote that the general public seems to be well resolved to monitor.