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The glyphosate spreading system in central France, in 2017 (illustration). REUTERS / Christian Hartmann

The antipesticides orders are multiplying in France after that of Langouët in Brittany, prohibiting the use of pesticides in public spaces. A lawsuit filed by the prefecture has suspended the decree, but mayors of all political parties implement antipesticide orders.

For sanitary and environmental reasons, dozens of mayors have issued a decree banning the use of pesticides at a distance of less than 150 meters from public spaces.

Mayors claim a "ripple effect"

In Sceaux, in the Hauts-de-Seine near Paris, the mayor UDI has simply banned glyphosate throughout his municipality. " People who had been tested had their glyphosate levels much higher than normal, even when they themselves had conditions that were quite healthy, " explains Mayor Philippe Laurent, who is joined by RFI . And so we consider that, in cases of public health, we must substitute ourselves in a certain way for the State, which does not fully appreciate the problem that this may pose. So we want it to be totally stopped now . "

The "administrative" justice does its work and judges on the form. The Mayors, they, seek to make the lives of people less difficult, today and tomorrow. It's the difference. Anti-pesticide order of the mayor of # Langouët suspended by the courts https://t.co/Tb4d4LKjZu

Philippe Laurent (@laurent_sceaux) August 27, 2019

Same steps in Malakoff, still in the Hauts-de-Seine, Pierrelaye in the Val-d'Oise, where the mayor PCF, Michel Vallade, after having supported Daniel Cueff , has taken an identical order; in Val-de-Reuil in the Eure, where the mayor PS Marc-Antoine Jamet took an antipesticide decree the same day that Langouët was suspended.

A way for him to create a ripple effect, he tells us. " I decided to take this decree to make mass effect, to ensure that there are more mayors who follow us. I am told that I am the 60th or the 20th, I do not know. I would like there to be 36,000, we are 36,000 mayors, there should be a mass effect and, little by little, more and more people understand that for every daily decision one must have an ecological and environmental dimension ".

Prefectures rise to the crenel

Challenged by the prefectures, all these municipal decrees should lead to legal recourse. We learn this Friday that the prefecture of Doubs seized Thursday the administrative court to request the cancellation of two municipal anti-glyphosate.

The Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume promised on Thursday that the state would impose " non treatment zones ", so riparian, elected and farmers could not agree to jointly establish territorial " charters ". spreading. The Minister of the Environment, Elisabeth Borne, also ensures to follow very closely this file.

In France, the use of glyphosate is already restricted, banned since early 2019 for individuals and banned since 2017 for public green spaces, recalls AFP. The government promised that it would be banned " in its main uses " by 2021 and " for all uses " within five years.