What are the ‘catastrophic’ pesticides that led France’s environment minister to quit?

France's Minister for the Ecological Transition has resigned after lawmakers approved a bill allowing bee-harming pesticides to come back into use. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT "Contrary to the commitments that had been made to me, the government prevented any debate on the removal of this measure," Monique Barbut said in a statement posted on LinkedIn. She said that the reversal was "one environmental setback too many." Barbut previously headed WWF France after serving as executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). What are the two pesticides that led Monique Barbut to resign and how dangerous are they? Acetamiprid and flupyradifurone: ‘Catastrophic’ pesticides The French parliament approved a controversial agriculture bill reintroducing two pesticides critics say harm bees. The legislation gives France's health and safety agency, Anses, the authority to conditionally authorise the use of acetamiprid and flupyradifurone. The pesticides are allowed in the European Union, but individual countries can limit their use. Proponents say French sugar beet, apple and hazelnut farmers need the insecticides - forbidden in France since 2018 and 2019 respectively - to help them compete with their European counterparts. While research has found that acetamiprid can poison honeybees, affecting their foraging capacity and memory, a 2024 study suggested flupyradifurone could be lethal to some bees. "In 2016, France chose to ban acetamiprid in the name of the precautionary principle, based on the scientific evidence available at the time," Barbut said. "Ten years later, far from dispelling concerns, scientific studies continue to raise doubts about its effects on human health and the environment." Pesticide Action Network Europe have long campaigned for acetamiprid to be banned not only on the basis of its impacts on bees but also on humans: “New scientific evidence shows that neonicotinoids like acetamiprid can favour breast cancer, due to its endocrine disruption property, and may lead to infertility. They can also affect our brain. Neonicotinoids cross the placental barrier and the brain barrier, putting unborn children at risk. “Acetamiprid has been detected in umbilical cords, breast milk and even in children's cerebrospinal fluid. It has been shown to concentrate at high levels in mice fetuses' brains upon mother exposure.” Flupyradifurone was approved in 2015. “It was presented by producer Bayer as an alternative to the other, more bee-toxic neonicotinoids. This proves to be new wine in an old bottle, since, in fact, it can be considered just another neonicotinoid,” according to Pesticide Action Network Europe. How did acetamiprid and flupyradifurone get approved in the French parliament? The vote came after the Constitutional Council, France's highest court, last year struck down a provision in another bill trying to reintroduce acetamiprid, saying it posed risks to human health, after more than two million people signed a petition against it. Most leftists in the lower house voted against the reintroduction of the two pesticides, but backing from the far right and many centrists meant it passed. The left has said it would appeal to the Constitutional Council if the Senate approved the measure. The left is expected to refer the matter to the Constitutional Council, and Green MP Daniel Salmon has slammed “a reckless and destructive headlong rush, with complacent measures that deny the scientific evidence”. For his part, centrist senator Franck Ménonville describes the text as a response to “the hypocrisy of producing less in France in order to import ever more products that do not comply with our standards”. "The government and its allies are trampling on science, health, the environment, and the will of the people," Greenpeace said after the National Assembly passed the bill. Henri Clement, of the French Beekeeping Union, told regional media outlet Ici Gard Lozere the measure was "absolutely catastrophic". Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard has defended the bill as necessary to address discontent among farmers after protests this winter. She has stressed health authorities would only approve use of the pesticides in certain areas for limited periods "on the condition there is no impact on human health or on the environment, there is an emergency situation" and "there is no alternative".