This archive report was first published on 22 August 2019.
On August 22, 2019, Daniel Cueff, the mayor of Langouet, a village in Brittany, France, stood before a court in Rennes, defending his decision to ban pesticide use within 150 meters of homes and workplaces.
Over 700 people gathered outside the court to show their support for Cueff's stance, which has highlighted growing public opposition to chemical pollution in rural areas.
"Can a mayor ignore the health of local residents?" Cueff asked the court, citing a 2009 European directive that required France to protect residents from pesticides.
"But nothing has been done," he added, referring to studies that showed the health risks posed by pesticides.
Controversial Weedkiller ¶
Cueff has spent 20 years working on environmental issues in his community, banning chemical weedkiller and opening an organic school canteen in 2004.
Residents had raised concerns about crop spraying, citing tests that showed high levels of glyphosate, a controversial weedkiller, in children's urine.
However, the ban angered non-organic local farmers, who insisted the pesticide was necessary to keep weeds at bay and that they had not been consulted.
'Better Protection' ¶
France has pushed for an EU-wide ban on glyphosate, which is found in the best-selling weedkiller Roundup sold by multinational Monsanto, amid rising concern among consumers about its impact on health.
But the country is one of the European Union's heaviest users of the herbicide, which is sprayed on food crops but also on public lawns and in forestry.
The World Health Organization has described glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic".
Environment Minister Elisabeth Borne said the government was looking at ways to better protect the population from airborne pesticides, but also noted that local officials should not take the law into their own hands.
