theguardian.com

Fleur Breteau tells of how case was merely a symptom of a wider problem contaminating food and water systems

Kim Willsher in ParisFri 8 Aug 2025 17.20 BST

On the day French MPs gave themselves a round of applause for approving legislation to reintroduce a banned pesticide last month, a figure rose from the public gallery to shout: “You are supporters of cancer … and we will make it known.”

Fleur Breteau made it known. Her outburst and appearance – she lost her hair during chemotherapy for breast cancer – boosted a petition against the “Duplomb law” to well over 2m signatures.

On Thursday, France’s constitutional court struck down the government’s attempt to reintroduce the pesticide acetamiprid – a neonicotinoid banned in France in 2018 but still used as an insecticide in other EU countries as well as the UK – in a judgment that took everyone by surprise. The ruling said the legislature had undermined “the right to live in a balanced and healthy environment” enshrined in France’s environmental charter.

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