France has been ordered to overhaul its pesticide authorisation procedures after a court ruled on Wednesday that current methods do not adequately protect biodiversity and human health.<\/p>\n
The Paris Administrative Court of Appeal delivered the verdict in the \u201cJustice for the Living\u201d case, brought more than three years ago by five environmental groups.<\/p>\n
They include Pollinis, a bee and biodiversity<\/a> advocacy group; Notre Affaire \u00e0 Tous (Our Common Cause), a climate justice organisation, and the nature<\/a> conservation group ASPAS.<\/p>\n The campaigners said the state had failed to protect biodiversity through weak pesticide<\/a> rules.<\/p>\n The court said in a statement that there was \u201cecological damage resulting from the use of plant protection products\u201d, particularly affecting human health.<\/p>\n It told the government to review pesticide authorisations that have already been granted, to make sure they meet the rules.<\/p>\n How forests decimated by wildfires still have the power to heal<\/a><\/p>\n Evaluation methods criticised<\/p>\n Judges ordered the state to carry out risk assessments \u201cin light of the latest scientific knowledge, particularly regarding non-target species\u201d. The authorities were given 24 months to complete the review.<\/p>\n France\u2019s food and chemicals safety agency, Anses<\/a>, was singled out. The court said Anses \u201ccommitted a fault by not evaluating plant protection products in view of the latest scientific knowledge\u201d.<\/p>\n It also said French authorities had failed to meet the requirements of a 2009 European regulation on pesticide marketing.<\/p>\n That regulation<\/a> states that pesticides must not have \u201cimmediate or delayed harmful effects on human or animal health\u201d and must not have \u201cunacceptable effects on plants or the environment\u201d.<\/p>\n