Pesticides pose well-documented risks to human health and the environment. Yet, despite being pinpointed as primarily responsible for inadequate protections, the French state continues to sideline urgent calls from France Nature Environnement.
In a December 13, 2019 press release, France Nature Environnement stresses that the fight is far from over. Appeals from mayors, associations, and citizens are routinely overlooked, with ultimate decisions on environmental and public health protections left to prefects and pesticide applicators.
The association's core mission: secure robust pesticide-free zones to protect local residents' health, as well as water, air, soil, and wildlife.
A public consultation in October 2019 produced 18 departmental charters, spearheaded by the National Federation of Farmers' Unions (FNSEA)—a group resisting national standards. These charters disappoint, featuring inadequate non-treatment zones and minimal input from environmental advocates.
France Nature Environnement condemns FNSEA's efforts to defend pesticide use at the expense of health and ecosystems, alongside the government's draft national regulations, which ignore real-world public health needs.
Bright spots include advances in waterway safeguards. Legal challenges to 2017 interministerial decrees that erased certain watercourses from protection maps yielded 8 victories in 25 cases, with more decisions pending.
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