‘Scandalous, irrational and irresponsible’: French beekeepers’ fury at lifting of pesticides ban

A beekeeper holds a honeycomb with dead bees on it during a 2018 demonstration in Paris over the impact of agricultural chemicals on bees. Photograph: François Mori/AP View image in fullscreen A beekeeper holds a honeycomb with dead bees on it during a 2018 demonstration in Paris over the impact of agricultural chemicals on bees. Photograph: François Mori/AP ‘Scandalous, irrational and irresponsible’: French beekeepers’ fury at lifting of pesticides ban Allowing use of two neonicotinoids to combat crop-ruining disease will kill bees and reduce harvests, union says Beekeepers and environmentalists in France have reacted furiously after parliament approved a bill reauthorising two banned pesticides scientists say can poison bees. “There are no words to describe the frustration,” said Carolyn Bouguet, a beekeeper in Essonne, greater Paris. “Bee populations have already been badly compromised by climate change, new parasites and loss of habitat. And now this.” Henri Clément, a beekeeper in the southern Lozère department and spokesperson for the French beekeeping association, UNAF, said the measure was “an absolute disaster for our sector, and for biodiversity as a whole”. For bees, the risk was “very high mortality rates and reduced harvests”, Clément told local media . “It’s just incomprehensible these pesticides have been reauthorised. We’ve been fighting them for 30 years. It’s scandalous, irrational and irresponsible.” The law, passed on Tuesday, allows France’s food and environmental safety agency, Anses, to grant waivers authorising the use of the pesticides acetamiprid and flupyradifurone in struggling farm sectors and under exceptional circumstances. The use of the pesticides, allowed in the EU but banned in France, will be authorised to combat aphid-borne diseases that can ruin crops of sugar beet, apples, hazelnuts and cherries, which has led producers to claim they can no longer compete with European rivals. Scientific studies have established that acetamiprid, a neonicotinoid with powerful neurotoxic effects, can poison bees, affecting their foraging capacity and memory. A 2024 study suggested flupyradifurone could be lethal to some honeybees. Greenpeace France said the country’s centrist government and its rightwing allies in parliament were “trampling on science, health, the environment and the clear will of the people”, describing the legislation as “deeply concerning” and “a disgrace”. France’s environment minister, Monique Barbut, said the legislation was “one environmental setback too many” and submitted her resignation on Wednesday, but was later persuaded to stay on after meeting President Emmanuel Macron. View image in fullscreen The French environment minister, Monique Barbut, formerly headed WWF France. Photograph: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters However, France’s largest farmers’ union, the FNSEA, welcomed the bill’s approval as “a major milestone and a victory for French farmers”, while the agriculture minister, Annie Genevard, sai