The text published on January 26 does not increase the safety distances for the suspected products of being carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic, as requested by the administrative judge.
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In a decision on July 26, 2021, the Council of State ordered the Government to supplement the rules of use of pesticides, in order to “better protect the population”. He had given him six months to review his copy. The executive scrupulously held the deadline fixed by the highest administrative court: he published, Wednesday, January 26, a new decree (the third since 2017) and a new decree expected to better supervise pesticide spreads near the residential areas. . However, the texts only respond very partly to the injunction of the Council of State.
Justice, which, in 2019, had already given six months to the government to take “more protective” measures, had asked to rectify three points: increase the minimum spreading distances for products that are only ” suspected “to be carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic (CMR); provide protection measures for people working near an area of pesticide use; and inform residents upstream of spreading. The new texts take relatively the last two points, but do the impasse on the first, the most crucial.
Under the pressure of the state council, the Government had adopted a decree establishing non-treatment areas (ZNT) to be respected by farmers: minimum distances without application of pesticides near homes. These distances vary depending on the dangerousness of the spreading substances, the material used and the type of culture concerned.
The government has retained three meters, five meters, ten meters. And, very exceptionally, 20 meters for products classified in the carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic category (CMR) proved for humans, but represent less than 0.5% of products sprayed by farmers. Distances deemed “totally ineffective” by environmental protection organizations and the mayors causing antipeticide decrees, which plead, for ZNTs of at least 150 meters.
“The government plays the watch”
In its decision of July 26, 2021, the Council of State tried “insufficient” the minimum distances, fixed at five meters for low crops, such as vegetables or cereals, for products whose toxicity is toxicity. “that” suspected and not proven. The administrative judge pointed out that the National Agency for Health Food, Environment and Labor (ANSES), on which the Government has been supported to fix the ZNTs, recommended a minimum distance of ten meters between Dwellings and spreading areas for any CMR file, without distinguishing whether their effects were proven, presumed or only suspected.
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