Nanterre is the latest city to join the anti-pesticide sling. Its mayor, Patrick Jarry, signed Thursday, September 5 a municipal bylaw prohibiting the use of any glyphosate-based product in its municipality. A measure that targets green space professionals, businesses, private and public landlords and farmers, knowing that communities and individuals are no longer allowed to use chemical pesticides since 2017 and 2019. A decision that "aims at the same time to protect the population and to obtain from the government a total prohibition of these products ", specifies the communique of the city.
[ZERO GLYPHO] The mayor has today, September 5, 2019, an order prohibiting the use of glyphosate products on the territory of the
common. In line with the communal orientations, in support of the mayors who did the same. The press release 👇 pic.twitter.com/yMGTkYVDqr
The prefecture of Hauts-de-Seine follows in the footsteps of some forty French town halls, mostly small rural communities labeled on all political fronts: Val-de-Rueil in the Eure, Perray-en-Yvelines in the Yvelines , Parempuyre in Gironde, Murles in the Hérault still Boussières in the Doubs to name a few. In recent months, the mayors of each of these municipalities have signed a decree prohibiting the application of plant protection products on the fields of the commune located within 150 meters of dwellings. The same act was taken by the mayor of Langouët, in Brittany, Daniel Cueff, last May before being suspended on August 28 by the administrative court of Rennes. Rationale: A mayor is not competent to make decisions about the use of pesticides.
By adopting the approach of Daniel Cueff, who says he received 47,000 messages of support and a call from Nicolas Hulot, the mayors want to show their solidarity. This is the case of Clothilde Ollier, Murles' dean in the Hérault, who filed his decree on 3 September. "We know that by helping each other in rural communities, we can achieve strong action," says the elected 320 citizens administered by France 24.
Following @DanielCueff Mayor of # Langouët and with the support of @DavidCormand and @ EELVMontpellier, I issued an #antipesticides order for #Murles. I am the first mayor of @Heraultinfos
Little girl farmers, it's a long time fight. pic.twitter.com/qCku2cOtWp
"We will not win by justice, we know it well"
As the mayor of Langouët, Clothilde Ollier was notified of the illegal nature of his order by the prefect, who told him that she had two months to withdraw, otherwise the State reserves the right to seize the court administrative. "We will not win by justice, we know it well," Clothilde Ollier comments, "but it's like with asbestos, you have to move the lines by the collective".
"What is infuriating is that the government is doing nothing and in addition, it prevents the mayors to act to protect the inhabitants," adds Daniel Cueff. The mayors also hope to draw attention to the public health problem posed by these pesticides and the lack of solutions to the dangers. "The water that flows to Murles, located on the watershed of Lez [river Herault] is the one that arrives in the taps in Montpellier, continues Clothilde Ollier, labeled Ecology Greens (EELV). is a way to make people understand that everyone is concerned about pesticides in drinking water ".
A nurse by training, Clothilde Ollier has always been committed to pesticides. "I'm in the field, I see the bees dying, I see the damage of pesticides in the hospital with Parkinson's disease, the micro-penis on little boys and the precocious puberty on little girls."
"It's not in 2020 that we have to solve the problem, we do not have time anymore !"
For the moment, the law authorizes the spreading of pesticides to the edge of schools and houses. The Minister of Agriculture, Didier Guillaume, objected Wednesday, September 4 at the microphone of Europe 1, to the idea of prohibiting the treatment with phytosanitary products in a uniform zone of 150 meters around inhabited buildings. "If there were to be 150-meter non-treatment areas, (...) that are the equivalent of the length of a football field and a half, we would have to buy food from elsewhere, "said the minister, noting that such a measure would reduce agricultural areas and the potential for food production in France. He mentioned an area of "two" to "five" meters around the houses.
For now, the state has called for dialogue in each department. At the beginning of October, a public consultation will bring together residents, elected officials, farmers, the population, associations with the aim of finding an agreement on the rules of spreading at the local level and to establish a charter. "If there is no agreement, it will be imposed by the state," he said. An order should be issued in early 2020 following the consultation.
Words that make the mayor of Murles leap. "The state is putting the blame on the small municipalities when it is up to him to take responsibility and to ban the glyphosate, as was done for speed limits, the wearing of the belt by car or the Asbestos, says Clothilde Ollier It is not in 2020 that we must solve the problem, we do not have time anymore!