A farmer sprays pesticides on a wheat field in Arapongas (Brazil), July 6, 2022. RODOLFO BUHRER/ Portal
It is a practice described as “abhorrent” by the United Nations, but which France and European countries have found resolutely difficult to stop: the export of pesticides whose use is banned in the European Union (EU) because of their health hazards or which Vicinity.
As a pioneer, on January 1, 2022, France became the first country to ban this controversial trade from its territory. However, nearly a year after the law went into effect, it continues to export banned pesticides on a massive scale. Between January and September, more than 7,400 tons of ultratoxic substances were shipped mainly to Brazil, but also to Ukraine, Russia, Mexico, India and Algeria.
Fungicides, herbicides, insecticides: a total of 155 marketing authorization applications, corresponding to around fifteen banned molecules, have been approved by the French authorities, according to data compiled by the Swiss association Public Eye and Unearthed, the investigative unit of the UK arm of Greenpeace.
The report published on Wednesday November 30th, to which Le Monde had access, highlights the shortcomings of the legislation. The main reason lies in the law itself. The ban provided for in the Food Law enacted in 2018 applies to crop protection products that “contain” substances that are not permitted in Europe, but not to the active ingredients themselves. Manufacturers can also continue to export legally banned products in pure form. And they don’t hesitate.
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For example, the American company Corteva was authorized to export almost 3,000 tons of the fungicide picoxystrobin, which has been banned in Europe since 2017, in particular because of its genotoxic potential. First destination, Brazil and its soybean crops, where French exports account for about 85% of the amount of picoxystrobin used each year. A lucrative business, because according to estimates by the financial analyst S&P Global, the sale of the fungicide Corteva brings in 260 million euros a year.
Another loophole appears in a decree implementing the law. It was published on March 23, 2022 and introduces an exemption: pesticides whose authorization has expired without being the subject of a formal ban at European level, or whose manufacturers have not applied for an extension, can still be exported. The text provides for “periods of grace”. These must be determined by joint order of the ministries responsible for agriculture and the environment “on the basis of an assessment of the effects of the ban”, the decree specifies. Eight months later, the decree has still not been published. It will be “soon”, we assure the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
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