French environmentalists are taking legal action against the temporary approval of the banned neonicotinoid imidacloprid for the treatment of sugar beet seeds. The conservation organization also wants manufacturers, importers, and traders to be held accountable for the ecological damage they cause with it.
Last month, the European Court of Justice upheld the ban on the use of certain types of neonicotinoids. However, EU countries retain the right to prohibit or approve pesticides themselves, provided they follow EU procedures.
Recently, several governments, including France, have granted temporary limited exemptions for the use of neonicotinoids. According to the French bird protection society, the substance directly harms bird populations because birds eat the treated beet seeds, and indirectly through the disappearance of insect diversity.
French bird enthusiasts say they have high hopes for a court ruling on the environmental responsibility of the chemical manufacturers, following recent rulings by German, Dutch, and European judges on causing environmental and climate damage.
Imidacloprid has been the best-selling neonicotinoid in France for the past thirty years. Studies attribute the decline in bird populations in agricultural landscapes to the substance. Recent studies have demonstrated this in, among others, the US, the Netherlands, and France.
The second neonicotinoid active ingredient approved in France for sugar beet seeds, thiamethoxam, recently made the news again. In the city of Rouen, a blue pollution was observed in the Seine River. According to the municipal government, it concerned a pesticide containing thiamethoxam, originating from a leak in storage tanks at a transport company.
The local authorities will file a report and have demanded clarification. A judicial investigation has already been opened. Numerous samples were taken, from which no danger to aquatic organisms could be inferred.