Twenty-five prefects have already given the green light. According to the association Eau et Rivières de Bretagne, 25 departments have already validated a charter proposed by the FNSEA to reduce the protective distances between the pesticide spreading areas and homes. The association denounces a “scandalous” decision in this period of coronavirus crisis.
"In the midst of a health crisis, without any consultation, at the very moment when Airbreizh, the air quality control agency, is alerting to ammonia emissions from pig, cattle and poultry farms, the prefects of all Breton departments validate a charter which halves the precautionary distances for spraying pesticides, ”denounced in a press release Eau et Rivières. Ten days ago, the Airbreizh association had issued microparticle pollution alerts. As road traffic was limited during this confinement period, agriculture was clearly targeted, in particular because of ammonia emissions.
How Brittany's agriculture is trying to limit its ammonia emissions https://t.co/no3PRW3PAz
- 20 Minutes (@ 20Minutes) April 3, 2020According to the pesticides decree of December 27, the minimum safety distances for spraying pesticides near inhabited places have been set at five meters for low crops, market gardening type, and ten meters for tall crops. "Insufficient for the protection of residents," according to Eau et Rivières, which had filed an appeal before the Council of State with eight other associations. With this new decree, these distances would have been reduced to three meters and five meters, on the proposal of the powerful agricultural union FNSEA.
"The decision must be stayed"
The environmentalist association “requests that, during this period of serious epidemic, the scandalous decision to validate charters that will have negative consequences on health be suspended. It will be time, after the current serious health crisis, to know whether it is necessary to halve the safety distances for spreading pesticides or to increase them appreciably as all the associations wish ”. For Eau et Rivières de Bretagne, "the objective remains the complete exit of pesticides as soon as possible by supporting farmers in this process".
Followed by many mayors, the mayor of Langouët (Ille-et-Vilaine), Daniel Cueff, who did not stand for the last municipal elections, had taken an order last May, quashed in court, prohibiting the use of plant protection products " at a distance of less than 150 meters from any cadastral parcel comprising a building for residential or professional use ”. Arrests systematically attacked by the prefectures.
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- Agriculture
- Fnsea
- Pollution
- Pesticides
- Reindeer
- Planet