French senate to debate introduction of banned farm pesticides

The French Senate is set to debate whether to reintroduce two banned pesticides, to help “lift the constraints on the farming profession”. 

Senator Laurent Duplomb – who is himself a farmer – registered the new bill on Monday, February 2, just a few months after another bill on the same subject was partially censured by the Constitutional Council and sparked protests from environmental campaigners.

The pesticides concerned are the insecticides acetamiprid, and flupyradifurone. The new bill proposes allowing the pesticides to be used for a limited period on sugar beet, apple, hazelnut and cherry crops. It calls the insecticides’ ban “excessive”, and said that failing to reintroduce them would cause “the disappearance of certain agricultural sectors”.

Both pesticides are from the neonicotinoids family, which are considered highly toxic to pollinators such as bees, and can also remain in soil for up to a year. They are banned in France but authorised in some European states.

‘Dangerous health aberration’

The previous ‘loi Duplomb’ was highly controversial. A June 2025 petition to stop the pesticides’ reintroduction gathered more than 2.1 million signatures, many more than the 500,000 minimum required to trigger a debate in the Assemblée Nationale.

Petition writer, masters’ student Eléonore Pattery, wrote that the loi Duplomb is “a dangerous…scientific, ethical, environmental and health aberration [that] represents a frontal attack on public health, biodiversity, the coherence of climate policies, food security and common sense”.

Now, a debate on the latest ‘loi Duplomb’ bill is set to take place on Wednesday, February 11.

Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard has not yet commented on the new bill, but nor has she ruled out the possibility of including the proposals in the future “emergency agricultural bill”. 

“This emergency law is currently being drafted, and we are gathering proposals from unions, parliamentarians... We'll see,” she told the press.

There has been much debate in France over how far the chemicals should be kept from homes and businesses, how much pesticides affect local agriculture and water sources, and anger over how pesticide use is measured.