\n<\/p>\n
France\u2019s top constitutional authority has ruled against the reintroduction of a pesticide that is harmful to ecosystems, saying it is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n
The decision on Thursday night deals a blow to the government. It comes after weeks of opposition from the left, environmentalists and doctors, and a record-breaking 2m signatures on a petition against a bill that would have allowed a pesticide banned in France in 2020 to come back into use.<\/p>\n
The \u201cDuplomb law\u201d \u2013 named after the conservative lawmaker Laurent Duplomb who proposed it \u2013 had been presented in parliament as a bid to free up French farmers, who have repeatedly expressed frustration over bureaucratic constraints on the agricultural sector, unfair foreign competition, and what they called stringent regulations, including on pesticides.<\/p>\n
But in a rebuke of the government on Thursday night, the constitutional council found that the law\u2019s provision to reintroduce acetamiprid \u2013 a chemical known to be toxic to pollinators such as bees \u2013 did not abide by France\u2019s environmental charter, which guarantees the \u201cright to live in a balanced and healthy environment\u201d. The constitutional authority also raised questions over provisions for water reservoirs in the bill.<\/p>\n
The president, Emmanuel Macron, had \u201ctaken good note of the decision\u201d, his office said on Thursday night, and was expected to swiftly validate the bill without these contested sections.<\/p>\n
The Green leader, Marine Tondelier, said she was \u201cvery relieved\u201d by the verdict. The Socialist party said the verdict was a rebuke to the \u201cirresponsibility of the prime minister, Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou, and his government\u201d.<\/p>\n
The insecticide in question was particularly sought after by beet and hazelnut growers, who said they had no alternative against pests and faced unfair competition. Some growers also argued that acetamiprid, allowed in other EU countries, was vital to fight virus yellows, which cut yields by 30% in 2020 and slashed sugar output.<\/p>\n
The petition on the website of France\u2019s lower-house National Assembly called the measure a \u201cfrontal attack on public health\u201d. Beekeepers have described the chemical as \u201ca bee killer\u201d, and its effects on humans are also a source of concern, though its risk remains unclear in the absence of large-scale studies.<\/p>\n
skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n
The planet’s most important stories. Get all the week’s environment news – the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n
Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The student-led petition against the bill garnered more than 2m signatures after lawmakers adopted its reintroduction on 8 July, when it was rushed through a deeply divided lower house of parliament without a proper debate.<\/p>\n Agence France-Presse contributed to this report<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" France\u2019s top constitutional authority has ruled against the reintroduction of a pesticide that is harmful to ecosystems, saying it is unconstitutional. The decision on Thursday night deals a blow to the government. It comes after weeks of opposition from the left, environmentalists and doctors, and a record-breaking 2m signatures on a petition against a bill<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[1653,8267,914,2918,8266,7143,4803,1436,8265],"class_list":{"0":"post-14644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-banned","9":"tag-constitutional","10":"tag-council","11":"tag-france","12":"tag-overruled","13":"tag-pesticide","14":"tag-pesticides","15":"tag-plan","16":"tag-reintroduce"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}