Paris (AFP)
Elected officials and activists on Tuesday called the mayors of France to multiply anti-pesticide orders and "overwhelm" the online consultation launched by the government on spreading distances.
"We must overwhelm the administrative courts", by taking such orders, against which the prefects have filed appeals, launched Christian Métairie, mayor EELV d'Arcueil, who recently made such an order in his commune of Val-de-France. Marne, at a press conference in the presence of Daniel Cueff, the first mayor to have issued a decree prohibiting the use of phyto-pharmaceutical products within 150 meters of houses. The decree was suspended by the administrative justice.
Brigitte Raynaud, mayor of Revest des Brousses, a small town in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, which also took such a decree, called for "taking a turn and taking it all together" by multiplying such measures. "We are fighting a just cause, our decree is not illegal, we are applying the precautionary principle".
Clothilde Ollier, mayor of Murles, municipality of 320 inhabitants near Montpellier, who took a similar decision, wished to see develop "a real movement of substance", calling the inhabitants to call their local elected officials to take them too anti-pesticide orders.
The Green MEP Michèle Rivasi wanted to see "a real political phenomenon to protect the population, saying that the decree put in consultation by the government on the minimum distances (5 to 10 meters) to respect between homes and spraying areas "absolutely does not respond to the stakes." She denounced "the strong lobbies of the industry and the FNSEA" which she said weighed.
Delphine Batho, former Minister of the Environment and MEP Generation Ecology, also wished "that the orders are multiplying".
According to the organizers, a total of 52 municipalities in France have taken anti-pesticide orders and the Val-de-Marne County Council announced on Tuesday that it has issued an order banning the use of plant protection products containing glyphosate in the department.
While the draft government decree is the subject of a three-week online consultation open to all, Julien Bayou, spokesman for EELV called to "overwhelm the online consultation" of comments calling for tougher measures planned . He announced the launch of a "help tool to facilitate and multiply the arguments" (consultationpesticides.fr).
"We must saturate the site by asking for stronger measures," said Nadine Lauverjat of the NGO Generations Futures, who also put on his site proposals for changes to harden the text.
© 2019 AFP