The Ecological Transition Ministry requested on Thursday an inspection of the Site of the German Basf Chemistry giant in Genay, near Lyon, where environmental activists claimed to have discovered a pesticide forbidden in France.
The Ministry confirmed to AFP that it has asked the Regional Directorate of the Environment, Planning and Housing (Dreal) of Auvergne-Rhône to carry out a control on this site, that “verify compliance with industrial practices with the law in force.”
“The consequences will be involved in case of non -compliance,” it is said.
The group of ecological activists of the “courtesy and voluntary mortgages of OMG” said that he had discovered on June 23 at the BASF facilities “a stock of Fastac pesticides, prohibited in France, as well as in its active substance, the alpha-zypermetrine, prohibited throughout the European Union”, in a statement published on Thursday.
Prosecution in case of violation
“Basf is outlaw,” denounces the collective, which publishes images of cans of Fastac and Alfa-Cypermenda according to the labels trapped in the containers that activists claim to have seen in Genay.
Contacted by AFP, BASF has not expressed itself in the presence or not of the incriminated products, and claims to act “always in accordance with European and national regulations, as well as with export laws”, especially in its Genay site.
The group had sentenced on June 23 “the intrusion of activists” in its Genay site, in a press release.
When asked, the Ministry of Ecological Transition (MTE) confirms that “the French regulations have prohibited since 2022, in the application of the EGALIM Law, production, storage and circulation in France of plants protection products that contain prohibited active substances at European level for reasons related to human, animal or environmental health” and that “phytosanitary products that contain part”.
MANUFACTURE AND illegal detention
The Ministry specifies that “the manufacture or import of the active substance alone for non -phytosanitary purposes (for example, biocides or veterinary products), remains possible, subject to compliance with applicable regulations.”
On the other hand, “the manufacture or detention of the Fastac product, or any other phytosanitary product containing alpha-cypermethrin-is illegal in France, even if these products are destined for export,” says MTE.
In its response to the AFP, BASF invoked the EU PIC regulations, which governs the import and export of certain dangerous chemicals, either by a notification procedure (the destination countries are reported before a possible import and can oppose it), either by the explicit agreement of the country of destination before the importation of a non -member of LEE.
The specific ministry, with respect to BASF, that “does not have an export notification of Fastac de France in 2024” under these regulations, or the active substance alone.
Source: BFM TV
