French PM rejects ag minister’s plea, green lights 2018 neonicotinoid insecticide ban

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French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe weighed in on a row between his environment and agriculture ministers … to rule that a pesticide found harmful to bees would be banned in 2018 as scheduled.

A ban on neonicotinoids, set down in a 2016 law on protecting biodiversity, has been fiercely opposed by cereal and sugar-beet farmers, who dispute research highlighting the chemicals’ risk to bees.

In the first sign of discord in the … French government, Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert has been lobbying for the upcoming ban to be eased.

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Edouard Philippe

He complained that French law “went further than European law” on the issue, implying that it put French farmers at a disadvantage against competitors.

The European Union set down a temporary ban on the use of three key neonicotinoids in 2013.

Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot, a former activist and high-profile TV presenter, hit back that “where health is at risk, I won’t make any concessions.”

“We have made too many concessions” in this area, he said. “We will find out about the disaster soon enough.”

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: French PM says ban on ‘bee-killer’ pesticide will go ahead

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