France reintroduces ‘bee-harming pesticides’, environment minister to quit

France backed a controversial bill reintroducing two pesticides critics say harm bees, as Environment Minister Monique Barbut said she would resign.

“In my mind, I have no other option than to present my resignation,” Barbut told aides, adding she intended to submit it to President Emmanuel Macron later today.

Proponents say French sugar beet, apple and hazelnut farmers need the insecticides – forbidden in France since 2018 and 2019 respectively – to help them compete with their European counterparts. The pesticides, acetamiprid and flupyradifurone, are allowed in the European Union.

Opponents argue they are dangerous to bees and human health.

On Tuesday evening local time, the right-leaning Senate backed the bill by 214 votes to 111. The National Assembly approved the legislation earlier.

“Let us be proud of the work accomplished,” said Senator Laurent Duplomb.

The vote came after the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest court, last year struck down a provision in another bill trying to reintroduce acetamiprid, saying it posed risks to human health, after more than two million people signed a petition against it.

That bill was championed by Duplomb.

“The government and its allies are trampling on science, health, the environment, and the will of the people,” Greenpeace said after the National Assembly passed the bill.

Henri Clement, of the French Beekeeping Union, told regional media outlet Ici Gard Lozere that the measure was “absolutely catastrophic”.

Research has found that acetamiprid can poison honeybees, affecting their foraging capacity and memory, while a 2024 study suggested flupyradifurone could be lethal to some bees.

Most leftists in the lower house this week voted against the reintroduction of the two pesticides, but backing from the far right and many centrists meant it passed.

The left has said it would appeal to the Constitutional Council if the Senate approved the measure.

Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard has defended the bill as necessary to address discontent among farmers after protests this winter.

She has stressed health authorities would only approve use of the pesticides in certain areas for limited periods “on the condition there is no impact on human health or on the environment, there is an emergency situation” and “there is no alternative”.

- AFP