Paris (AFP)

The minimum distances for spreading pesticides in relation to homes will be set at 5 and 10 meters depending on the type of crop from January 1, with the possibility of derogation in the event of local agreement, we learned on Friday of government source.

These distances will be included in a decree, the development of which has been very controversial, which will also bring to 20 meters the "incompressible distance" from the distance from dwellings for the small minority of products considered to be the most dangerous for humans, a have we specified from the same source.

These distances of five meters for so-called low crops such as vegetables and 10 meters for tall crops, such as cereals, fruit trees or vines, correspond to recommendations made last June by the French Health Security Agency (ANSES) and to those put in consultation by the government in October.

The products concerned by the distance of 20 meters represent only about 0.3% of the active substances used, and have a "quasi-proven toxicity for humans", according to these sources.

Glyphosate is not one of them. This particularly controversial substance was notably the source of a series of prohibition orders by mayors across France, systematically challenged by the administrative authorities.

The future order also provides for the possibility of derogations, reducing the minimum distances up to 5 meters for arboriculture and 3 for "viticulture and other crops", except near establishments accommodating "vulnerable people (schools, hospitals, retirement homes...).

These exemptions will require the use of spraying equipment fitted with special "anti-drift" devices and the adoption of "departmental commitment charters". These charters, proposed by the users of phytosanitary products (agricultural organizations or infrastructure managers like the SNCF, large user of glyphosate to weed the tracks), must be submitted to public consultation and validated by the prefects.

While this much-awaited decision should provoke many reactions, the government claims to have wished to "keep to the state of science in current knowledge and the opinion of ANSES", while acknowledging that it is acts "of a non-consensual subject".

This question of pesticides has exacerbated the cleavages, in particular between environmental protection associations, which often advocated distances of 100 or 150 meters, and certain agricultural unions who see it as a symbol of "agro-bashing".

An envelope of 25 million euros will also be provided to "support farmers in reducing the use of phytosanitary products", and the plots already sown will not be affected until July 1, 2020.

Finally, as ANSES will integrate safety distances as planned in its future marketing authorizations, these will be the ones that will apply.

© 2019 AFP