France Upholds Ban on Bee-Killing Insecticide Following Mass Petition

French President Emmanuel Macron has signed into law the Duplomb law, which bans the reintroduction of the bee-killing pesticide acetamiprid following a petition with over two million signatures. The legislation comes after France's Constitutional Council ruled that the pesticide, part of the neonicotinoids family, posed risks to human health and biodiversity, violating the country's environmental charter. Although banned in France since 2018, acetamiprid remains legal in the European Union, with some farmers arguing its necessity for competitiveness. The main farmers' union has criticized the Constitutional Council's decision as unacceptable, warning of negative impacts on French agricultural production and industrial processing. Critics of the new law have described the parliamentary process as rushed and expressed broader frustrations with political deadlock. French Health Minister Yannick Neuder has called for a European reassessment of acetamiprid's health impacts, potentially leading to an EU-wide ban.