Several NGOs demanded Tuesday the suspension of the provisional re-authorization of neonicotinoid insecticides in the beet industry, denouncing the return of bee killers -

Gutner / SIPA

Last October, a law was passed to allow an exemption to the ban on neonicotinoid insecticides in the beet industry until July 1, 2023. The decision was taken to deal with the drop in the sugar beet harvest due to invasion of a green aphid vector of jaundice.

This Tuesday, several NGOs requested the suspension of this provisional re-authorization, denouncing the return of "bee killers".

After the green light from the Constitutional Council in December, a decree clarified in early February the implementation of this law: a marketing authorization for 120 days of sugar beet seeds coated with two neonicotinoids (imidacloprid or thiamethoxam) with strict conditions of employment.

The beet growers, which suffered losses estimated at 280 million euros after the aphid invasion that other treatments failed to eliminate, had requested this reintroduction while awaiting an alternative technical solution.

No “limited and controlled” use obligations

The NGOs Agir pour l'Environnement et Terre d'Abeilles have requested by emergency procedure the Council of State, the highest administrative jurisdiction in the country, the suspension of this decree, considering in particular that it did not meet the obligations of '' “limited and controlled” use provided for by European regulations in order to be able to derogate from the general ban on neonicotinoids in agriculture in the European Union.

According to NGOs, the decree is also based on weather forecasts that underestimated the recent cold spell, which aphids would not resist, while sowing should begin towards the end of March.

They also believe that the public authorities have not encouraged the search for alternative solutions.

Other appeal procedures

On the contrary, the government felt that it had imposed "guarantees of use" and ensured that the recent temperatures were "in the low end of the expected range".

Its representative at the hearing also underlined that the development of alternatives required time and that "ten other European States" were preparing to resort to similar exemptions.

The decision should be made in the coming days.

Other appeal proceedings against this reintroduction have been launched by other environmental associations in the jurisdictions of Lyon and Toulouse, where the French headquarters of the manufacturers, Bayer and Syngenta are located.

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