Royal calls for Roundup ban

SEGOLENE Royal has called on shopping centres to stop selling one of their most popular herbicide Roundup.

The environment minister said that sales of the product, and other similar ones containing glyphosate, would be stopped either through voluntary agreements or legislation.

Glyphosate products are France’s top-selling weed-killers, however in March this year, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer claimed that glyphosate, a key component of Roundup and some other herbicides, was “probably carcinogenic to humans” but adding that the evidence was limited.

The consumer group CLCV welcomed the move and said that products containing glyphosate should be put out of reach of amateur gardeners and banned from general sale.

Royal has already made clear that she wishes to markedly reduce the use of herbicides and pesticides and to encourage amateur gardeners to use organic methods of pest control.

Monsanto has said that it is unaware of any changes to the authorisation of the sale of Roundup and that it would continue to work for the reaccreditation of glyphosate.

Photo: Flickr/Mike Mozart