PARIS, May 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The French government reiterated Tuesday a
campaign pledge by President Emmanuel Macron to ban glyphosate-based
herbicides by 2021, after senators refused to enshrine the pledge into law.
The weedkiller, introduced in the 1970s by US agro-giant Monsanto under the
brand name Roundup, is suspected by some scientists of causing cancer, with a
2015 WHO study determining it was “probably carcinogenic”.
Last November, a majority of EU member states voted to renew the licence
for the product for five years, rebuking French efforts to limit the approval
to just three years pending
“The president’s commitment to forbidding glyphosate within three years is
clear,” government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told Franceinfo radio Tuesday.
“We have said that we are going to work with everyone involved, that we
will charge the INRA (National Agriculture Research Institute) with finding
alternative solutions for glyphosate,” he said.
Senators rejected late Monday amendments that would have given the pledge
the force of law, though Griveaux rejected claims the government was ceding
to pressure from farm lobbies.
“Have a little bit of confidence, don’t always think that constraints,
sanctions are the only ways of pursuing efficient public policies,” he said.
“(Environment Minister) Nicolas Hulot is working with all players and with
INRA, and if we find industrial and scientific solutions allowing France to
stop using glyphosate in three years, then everyone will have won,” he added.