After the vote by the European Parliament in October 2007, the European Agricultural Council, under pressure from irrational fears stirred up by certain NGOs, may soon validate regulations that would be the first step on the way to banning many different groups of plant protection products which are essential to farming.

As part of the current revision of regulations applying to EU approval of these products, there would be a shift from regulations based on risk assessment for the products themselves to a system of authorization based on the theoretical toxicity of the active compounds in them, with cut-off criteria for the assessment.
 
These criteria could, for example, lead to a ban on triazoles when they are reassessed.  Triazoles are the main family of compounds in pesticides used to combat diseases affecting field crops and have been used for years without posing a risk to humans, animals or the environment.  However, the diseases they control could, in the case of wheat, cause a loss of 1.5 tonnes per hectare, or a total of 7.5 million tonnes across France, an amount equivalent to a quarter of all the wheat produced in 2007.
 
This would mean a ban effectively stopping European farming from playing its role in providing food for the world, and at a time of great international tension on markets showing the need for a proper response to the demand for food.
 
We are therefore making a solemn appeal to the President of the French Republic, who recently confirmed the duty of French agriculture to produce greater quantity and better quality, calling for the French vote in Brussels to ensure that the means of production needed for agriculture in Europe are safeguarded.

Pascal HURBAULT - 01 44 31 16 25
Céline FOURNIER  - 01 44 31 10 90