The Montreuil administrative court on Tuesday rejected requests to suspend anti-pesticide orders made by the mayors of six municipalities in Seine-Saint-Denis, thus authorizing them to ban plant protection products on their territory.
The municipalities of L'Ile-Saint-Denis, Villemomble, Les Lilas, Montfermeil, Sevran and Saint-Denis will be able to maintain the ban on the use of herbicides containing glyphosate on all gardens, public and private green spaces as well than for the maintenance of departmental and municipal roads.
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" The plant protection products targeted by the decree in dispute (...) constitute a serious danger for the exposed populations " justifying the decrees of the municipalities, even if this prerogative normally falls within the competence of the Minister of Agriculture, explained the court in its decision.
" The commune of Ile-Saint-Denis has only 8,000 inhabitants, but is characterized by a young population, 85% of whom reside in social housing whose common spaces are treated with pesticides, and by the importance of air pollution ”, justified the environmental mayor Mohamed Gnabaly, during the hearing at the end of February.
An argument taken into account by the judge in summary proceedings, who had been seized urgently by the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis, opposed to these orders. The prefect's request concerning the city of Saint-Denis was, however, purely inadmissible. On the other hand, the judge in summary proceedings ordered the suspension of the decrees taken by the mayors of Tremblay-en-France and Stains until the court pronounces on the merits.
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" I will appeal the decision, it is the health of the inhabitants, " said the mayor (PCF) of Stains Azzedine Taïbi. " I took this order to protect the residents because we do not have the right to look at the private gardens where glyphosate can be used, " he added.
In May, the emblematic mayor of the city of Langouët (Ille-et-Villaine), Daniel Cueff, had issued an anti-pesticide order, but it had been canceled by the courts. Several hundred municipalities have since taken up the question of the use of pesticides.
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