President Macron’s commitment to ban glyphosate-based weedkillers within three years remains in place, his government says, even though MPs have thrown out legal moves to enforce it, reports euronews.
The French parliament’s lower house, the National Assembly, has rejected moves to impose a deadline for phasing out the controversial chemical, which has been linked to cancer.
This came despite Emmanuel Macron’s pledge to ditch the controversial weedkiller within three years and his centrist government's large parliamentary majority.
It brought immediate criticism that health concerns had been sacrificed in the interests of powerful farming and chemical lobbies. Glyphosate is best known for its use in the Montsanto product Roundup.
Last year the president instructed his government to forbid the use of glyphosate as soon as alternatives had been found, “and at the latest within three years”. On Tuesday, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told Franceinfo radio that his commitment remained clear.
Macron made the pledge last November, following the European Union’s decision to grant another five-year licence for the weedkiller.
His environment minister, former green activist and TV presenter Nicolas Hulot, had proposed exemptions for farmers who were not ready to ditch glyphosate within that time.