The collective of anti-pesticide mayors has once again seized the Council of State of a request for the emergency suspension of texts fixing the minimum distances between pesticide spreading areas and homes, suggesting "a probable link" between spreading and spreading of the new coronavirus, AFP learned on Tuesday. The summary hearing before the Council of State is scheduled for May 12 at 10 a.m.
The collective, chaired by the mayor of Langouët (Ille-et-Vilaine) Daniel Cueff, had already seized the Council of State in emergency in January to request the suspension of the decree and the decree of December 27, 2019 fixing the minimum distances between the spreading of pesticides and homes, considered insufficient to protect populations. Without ruling on the merits, the highest administrative court had estimated in February that the emergency condition was not met.
Read also: Pesticides: twenty members of the majority denounce a reduction in spreading distances
The collective, which brings together some 120 city councilors, again seized the judge of the summary proceedings of a request for suspension, justifying this new request by the context of the Covid-19 epidemic and by new scientific publications.
According to these mayors, there are "probable links between fine particles and sensitivity to Covid-19" and confinement "exposes the inhabitants living near the spreading fields to air pollution 24 hours a day". They also underline in a press release that "a Dutch study highlights the presence of pesticide pollution over a distance of 250 meters".
Read also: Tracks for agriculture without chemical pesticides
"The virus weakens the bronchi of people who breathe synthetic pesticides, and new elements show that it would be accelerated by the presence of fine particles in the air," said Daniel Cueff, who claims the principle precautionary.
The decree and decree published on December 27 after several months of controversy define the distances to be respected: five meters for so-called low crops such as vegetables and cereals and ten meters for tall crops, fruit or vines. A distance increased to 20 meters for the “most dangerous” products, which represent around 0.3% of the active substances used.
The collective also seized the European commission "of a request to withdraw the approval of glyphosate or at least its immediate suspension". At the beginning of April, the association Water and Rivers of Brittany had denounced the decision of 25 departments, including the four Breton departments, to validate, in the midst of a health crisis, a FNSEA charter reducing by half the distances of protection towards residents in the use of pesticides.
Read also: Urban agriculture shaken by the coronavirus
This decision was made possible by derogations from the Ministry of Agriculture which, on March 30, had made it possible to reduce the spreading distance from five to three meters "as soon as a concertation has been launched, without waiting for its validation , and that farmers use high-performance equipment ”.
On April 23, nine NGOs led by Générations Futures, including Eau et rivières, filed two appeals before the Council of State against these exemptions, to stop agricultural spreading in the immediate vicinity of homes.
Read also: Seine-Saint-Denis: justice rejects the suspension of anti-glyphosate orders of six municipalities