In France, a law reuturing acetamipride, a neonicotinoid pesticide, unleashes the anger of environmentalists. In Switzerland, this product is authorized despite several attempts to ban it, but a reassessment is underway. For its defenders, it remains essential for the local sugar sector.
More than a million and a half people have signed a petition asking to return to the Duplumb law, a text favoring several intensive agriculture practices and adopted after a procedure diverted to the French National Assembly. The project notably wants to reintroduce acetamipride, a pesticide from the neonicotinoid family, often described as “bee killer”.
>> Read on this subject: Almost a million signatures against the reintroduction of a pesticide in France
Mainly used to protect beet crops from aphids, and sometimes in certain fruit crops, this product remains admitted in the rest of the European Union. He will have to be an automatic review in 2033.
Running in progress in Switzerland
In Switzerland, this product has already aroused several political arrests to be prohibited, or at least studied. All were rejected. In 2021, Federal Councilor Guy Parmelin said that “according to current scientific knowledge, these products have no deleterious effect on human health”.
But things could change. According to the Federal Office for Food Security and Veterinary Affairs (OSV), a review procedure is underway for phytosanitary products containing this molecule. It relates to health and environmental risks. Depending on the results, the rules of use could be adapted and the use of acetamipride could even be completely prohibited.
“Essential to guarantee sufficient yield”
Questioned Wednesday in the RTS Forum program, the vice-president of the Swiss Federation of Beets Pierre-Alain Epars got up against a possible ban. “It is an essential product to guarantee sufficient yield at hectare in the sugar beet sector,” he said. “However, this rate of return is significant in particular because any drop in production implies an increase in imports of sugar, which is not always produced according to the same standards.”
The farmer is also skeptical of the deleterious effects on the environment. “There may indeed be side effects, but as beets do not flourish, the bees do not go on the beets. I have a little trouble believing that it is toxic to bees,” he notes. “And I also recall that there are agreements signed between the Swiss Federation of Beetraviers and Apisuisse, the beekeeper’s umbrella. They are quite aware that we use these kinds of products and it does not seem to pose them absolutely problem.”
>> Read on the same subject: “In terms of neonicotinoids, the only acceptable dose is zero,” said researcher Alexandre Aebi
Finally, according to him, there is no alternative to acetamipride. “I do not use it because I am registered in the IP-Suisse program: I am not allowed to use insecticides,” he explains. “But that implies a drop in production. If I do it, it is because I have an ecological conscience, and also because it brings me additional subsidies. This is how I find myself financially. But the drop in production is harmful for the sector.”
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Rather low use of pesticides in Switzerland
According to the latest figures available, just over a ton of acetamipride -based products was sold in Switzerland in 2023, a quantity down compared to the previous three years, but much higher than in the 2010s, where only a hundred kilos were sold. However, this is a rather low quantity: as a comparison, 75 tonnes of glyphosate were sold in Switzerland the same year.
In addition, the 2023 sales figures indicate that with a total of 1.5 to 2 kilos of phytosanitary products per hectare sold, Switzerland displays a rather low rate compared to European neighbors. In 2022, France was just over 3.5 kilos of pesticides per hectare, while Italy and Germany exceed four kilos. Malta holds the European record with more than 11.5 kilos per hectare. Conversely, Romania, Sweden, Estonia and Slovakia use it less than Switzerland.
Radio subject: Loïc Delacour
Web text: Pierrik Jordan