The French government wants a total ban on herbicides containing glysophate, notably Round-up, which the world health organisation has classed as "probably cancerogenic". The EU has yet to make up its mind, as several countries (including the UK) are unwilling to ban the use of a very effective treatment.
Levels of pesticides and herbicides in water courses in some parts of France are such that they pose a threat to public health, and despite widespread use of glysophate French farmers are more or less resigned to a unilateral ban.
One farmer in Normandy was so alarmed by this that 10 years ago he stopped using them altogether. Finding other methods, mainly manual, of keeping weeds down he now sees his yields down by about 20%, but able to be classed as organic and saving significant sums on chemicals he claims to be no worse off. How the country could cope with such a reduction in output is not known, but continued use of poisons is probably not an option.
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