Following analyses (on the initiative of the Organic Farmers' Organization of the Loir-et-Cher department) revealing contamination of private vegetable gardens by prosulfocarb, the French Federation of Organic Agriculture (FNAB) and Générations Futures are calling for the herbicide to be withdrawn.
"Two-thirds of the fruit and vegetable samples tested were contaminated, with levels exceeding the maximum residue limits (MRLs) authorized for marketing in 40% of the samples tested. This is the opinion of the FNAB and Générations Futures," according to the federation in a press release.
© FNAB
"The volatility of the herbicide is also affecting peri-urban areas"
"GABLEC coordinated a campaign to sample fruit and vegetables at 15 sites. The breakdown of the results shows that, while rural areas are the most affected, the extreme volatility of this herbicide - now the most widely used in France after glyphosate - is also affecting peri-urban areas."
FNAB also notes that according to several studies, prosulfocarb is capable of traveling several kilometers through the air, contaminating crops and gardens a long way from the treatment areas. "A pesticide with such an uncontrollable environmental spread no longer has a place on the French market," explains François Veillerette, spokesman for Générations Futures. He adds that "the latest EFSA opinion, dating from 2007, contains some very worrying shortcomings, particularly in the assessment of the substance's carcinogenic properties."
Five years of ignored warnings and economic damage
"Since 2021, our organizations have continued to alert the public authorities to the risks associated with this molecule. In 2021: referral was made to twelve prefectures to request urgent local bans and a warning of the €100,000 [118,721 USD] losses suffered by buckwheat producers. In 2022, legal action was brought before the administrative court to suspend marketing authorizations. In 2023: Denunciation of the inadequacy of the drift reduction measures imposed by ANSES. Despite these steps, organic farmers continue to suffer regular losses. The loss to the organic buckwheat sector alone has probably amounted to several million euros over the last ten years, with an average cost per contamination estimated at 10,000 euros [11,872 USD]."
FNAB co-president Olivier Chaloche says that it is "profoundly unfair that organic farmers should have to pay the price for pollution for which they are not responsible. The state can no longer remain a spectator: it must act to protect our farms and local residents."
Ineffective rules on use
"The rules governing the use of prosulfocarb, including safety distances of 10 to 20 meters from local residents, are clearly ineffective in the face of a substance found in the air in such frequent concentrations. This is why our organizations officially notified the ANSES phytopharmacovigilance department on 21/01/26 of these significant breaches of the Maximum Residue Limits revealed by their analyses. A referral to ANSES will be made in the next few days to request that these results be assessed and taken into account at the regulatory level."
FNAB and Générations Futures are calling for:
- The withdrawal of marketing authorizations for all prosulfocarb-based products.
- The establishment of a minimum safety zone of one kilometer around homes and vegetable gardens for as long as the molecule remains authorized.
- The creation of a national compensation fund for farmers and private individuals affected by this contamination.
- The consumption of self-produced food should be a route of exposure taken into account when assessing the risk of pesticides to local residents (which is not the case today), and EFSA's methodological guide should therefore be revised.
For more information:
www.fnab.org
