\n<\/p>\n
O<\/span>n the day French MPs gave themselves a round of applause for approving legislation to reintroduce a banned pesticide last month, a figure rose from the public gallery to shout: \u201cYou are supporters of cancer \u2026 and we will make it known.\u201d<\/p>\n Fleur Breteau made it known. Her outburst and appearance \u2013 she lost her hair during chemotherapy for breast cancer \u2013 boosted a petition against the \u201cDuplomb law\u201d to well over 2m signatures.<\/p>\n On Thursday, France\u2019s constitutional court struck down the government\u2019s attempt to reintroduce the pesticide acetamiprid \u2013 a neonicotinoid banned in France in 2018 but still used as an insecticide in other EU countries as well as the UK \u2013 in a judgment that took everyone by surprise. The ruling said the legislature had undermined \u201cthe right to live in a balanced and healthy environment\u201d enshrined in France\u2019s environmental charter.<\/p>\n For Breteau, 50, a battle is won but the struggle goes on. \u201cThe law is a symptom of a sick system that poisons us. The Duplomb law isn\u2019t the real problem. It\u2019s aggravating an already catastrophic system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are living in a toxic world and need a revolution to break the chain of contamination in everything \u2026 If people don\u2019t react we\u2019ll find ourselves in a world where we cannot drink water or eat food that is uncontaminated, where a slice of buttered bread or a cup of tea poisons us. It will be a silent world, without animals, without insects, without birds.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are accused of politicising cancer, of weaponising the disease. Yes, that is exactly what we\u2019re doing because that is what\u2019s necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Breteau on her way to the Gustave Roussy hospital in Villejuif for radiotherapy.<\/span> Photograph: Julien Daniel\/MYOP<\/p>\n In an interview with the Guardian between radiotherapy treatments hours before the court\u2019s decision, Breteau explained the \u201cinjustice and anger\u201d she felt on learning that the government planned to reintroduce the pesticide, and how it prompted her to create the Cancer Col\u00e8re (Cancer Anger) collective.<\/p>\n She was in hospital for treatment for the second bout of cancer in three years when the bill was approved by the national assembly\u2019s upper house, the S\u00e9nat.<\/p>\n \u201cI was having chemotherapy and it was really hard. I thought this law would never pass, that it would be impossible. When I learned senators had voted for it, I was filled with an intense anger,\u201d Breteau said. \u201cAnd the more I looked at the figures for cancer cases, the angrier I became.\u201d<\/p>\n In March, the national health body Sant\u00e9 publique France published the latest cancer figures that showed cases had doubled since 1990, while use of tobacco and alcohol, often blamed for the disease, had declined by 25% in the same period. It noted an alarming rise in cancers in children and those aged 15-39. Doctors and researchers responded with an open letter to Le Monde reporting that there was a cancer epidemic.<\/p>\n Breteau said: \u201cAll the arguments they\u2019ve given us \u2013 blaming individuals for habits like smoking and drinking or that the population is ageing \u2013 don\u2019t hold water.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know where there are lots of pesticides used, there are clusters of child cancers, so we can no longer doubt there is a link. Scientists have known this for years, but like the tobacco manufacturers, the agriculture lobbies know how to create doubt. They want us to prove the cancer of this or that person is directly linked to this or that pesticide.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Breteau created the Cancer Col\u00e8re (Cancer Anger) to build opposition to the bill.<\/span> Photograph: Julien Daniel\/MYOP<\/p>\n Acetamiprid wipes out \u201csucking\u201d insects on vegetable, citrus fruit and grape crops. First introduced in the early 1990s, its use is permitted in the UK where it is labelled \u201chighly hazardous\u201d.<\/p>\n The potential effect of the neonicotinoid on humans is a source of concern, though the risks remains unclear in the absence of large-scale studies. Research on bees is inconclusive and controversial: it has been argued that acetamiprid is less toxic to the environment and insects than other insecticides. Others claim it is responsible for the collapse of bee colonies.<\/p>\n Philippe Grandcolas, a deputy director at the CNRS, France\u2019s national scientific research body, said: \u201cWhat the studies have shown is that acetamiprid is the \u2018least toxic, least harmful\u2019 of the neonicotinoids, but it\u2019s like choosing between the plague and cholera.\u201d<\/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 On Friday the French health minister, Yannick Neuder, pressed for a Europe-wide evaluation of the impact of acetamiprid on human health. \u201cI am calling for a prompt, careful and transparent reassessment by European health authorities of the health impact of acetamiprid,\u201d he told France Inter radio. Neuder said studies of its potential endocrine-disrupting or neurotoxic properties were ongoing.<\/p>\n One of its manufacturers, the Chinese agrochemical firm Shijiazhuang Pomais Technology, has said acetamiprid has \u201clow toxicity to humans and animals \u2026 it has low toxicity to fish, has little impact on bees and is highly safe\u201d.<\/p>\n Breteau has told French journalists she felt as if she was 90 years old, but she looked surprisingly healthy when the Guardian met her in a community park before she had to head across town to the Gustave Roussy hospital for her last radiotherapy session. The oncology hospital is said to be Europe\u2019s top cancer treatment centre and is ranked as one of the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n <\/span>On first arrival at the cancer ward, Breteau was shocked to see children and pregnant women needing treatment.<\/span> Photograph: Julien Daniel\/MYOP<\/p>\n Wearing a crossbody bag high over her chest, Breteau moved it aside to tap where her right breast was.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first cancer was in the left. This one was in the right. The tumour was abnormal and developing far too quickly, but that was not the problem,\u201d she said. \u201cIn August last year I lost one of my best friends to brain cancer that spread and it\u2019s several years now that members of my family and friends have had cancers.\u201d<\/p>\n Breteau said that while in hospital she was shocked to come across toddlers, teenagers and pregnant mothers in the cancer wards.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought I\u2019d be the youngest. I spoke to my parents, and those of their generation and they told me we didn\u2019t have that at your age. When we were 40, we didn\u2019t have friends who died of brain cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n Breteau said Cancer Col\u00e8re had gone from a handful of activists \u2013 mostly those who have or had the disease \u2013 to about 600 supporters in a matter of weeks. The collective has rejected affiliation to any political party and has learned from the gilets jaunes movement that demonstrating does not work. In September, Cancer Col\u00e8re will begin a leafleting campaign outside hospitals that points out the dangers of pesticides.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are solutions, farmers who use healthy agricultural methods, who respect animals and nature. We must listen to them and scientists, but we have to confront politicians and industrialists,\u201d Breteau said. \u201cOrdinary people are deeply angry and becoming more so. We\u2019re thinking how we become a force.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the day French MPs gave themselves a round of applause for approving legislation to reintroduce a banned pesticide last month, a figure rose from the public gallery to shout: \u201cYou are supporters of cancer \u2026 and we will make it known.\u201d Fleur Breteau made it known. Her outburst and appearance \u2013 she lost her<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[847,654,2918,1609,5012,5731,2252,7143,8344],"class_list":{"0":"post-14740","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-block","9":"tag-cancer","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-french","12":"tag-inspired","13":"tag-movement","14":"tag-patient","15":"tag-pesticide","16":"tag-reintroduction"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14740","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=14740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}