It’s a debate that is shaking up French society this summer. With 1.8 million signatures collected within just a fortnight, the petition against the Duplomb Law is sending shockwaves through the political world.
One point in particular is crystallising tensions: the reintroduction of a pesticide. The legislation authorises farmers to use acetamiprid, possible because the substance is authorised for use in the EU until 2033.
It was a 23-year-old student who lit the fuse. She submitted her petition two days after the final adoption of the law on 8 July.
For the ecologist MEPs, this text is a dangerous message sent by Paris to its European partners.
“The problem is that France could very well have gone to its counterparts in the other Member States and said, let’s harmonise our legislation, let’s harmonise our bans, let’s do it in the general interest and let’s work towards that. This is not what France has decided to do,” laments Majdouline Sbaï from the Greens/EFA European Parliament bloc.
“By taking a step backwards, France is bound to set Europe back”, she added.
France wants to use this substance, which has been banned since 2018, to protect its beet, hazelnut, cherry and apple crops. Supporters of the law and France’s leading farmers’ union believe that national producers are at a disadvantage compared to their European counterparts and are talking about unfair competition.
Right-wing MEP Céline Imart points out that insect pests “destroy between 30 and 50% of hazelnut crops.”
“And so what happens in this case is that we import products from our neighbours, from Germany or Italy, but also Turkish hazelnuts in the end, to supply the factories and production in France.”
A controversial pesticide
“Neocotinoids, which include acetamiprid, are considered to be bee killers. A bee is used to pollinate. This type of substance is a real danger for bees and therefore for future pollination,” warns Majdouline Sbaï.
“But beyond that, it is also implicated and considered as a carcinogen, as a danger to the health of humans.”
However, the public health debate is more complex. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is cautious on this point. Last year, it stated that “there are major uncertainties in the body of evidence concerning the developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) properties of acetamiprid and that additional data are therefore necessary to (…) allow an appropriate assessment of the hazards and risks.”
The pesticide could have effects on foetal brain development. The EFSA has therefore proposed reducing the daily dose.
“I understand that there is this debate. What is extremely damaging today is that the debate is biased. And when we try to bring science, rationality and scientific studies to the table”, we “end up coming up against this emotion generated by the buzz of fear,” replies Céline Imart.
A blow for climate policy
The Duplomb Act is part of a trend towards calling into question the climate policy adopted in recent years. The text includes other provisions that facilitate intensive livestock farming and construction of water storage facilities, otherwise known as megabasins.
“Yes, this is yet another attack on the commitments made in the previous mandate,” says Majdouline Sbaï.
On the other hand, Céline Imart (EPP) welcomes the fact that this law calls into question the European Green Pact.
“I’m very proud to be helping to unravel this Green Pact, because I think it’s the wrong way to go about things. The punitive logic, the logic that will further burden farmers, their productivity, their profitability,” insists the MEP.
For the time being, the petition in France has met the criteria for a new debate in the National Assembly.
The President of the National Assembly said she was in favour of a further exchange of views between MEPs. However, this debate can only deal with the petition, and will not be followed by a vote that could immediately repeal the law that has already been passed.
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