The bill was adopted at first reading in France (and against the government’s opinion). “aimed at protecting the food of the French people from cadmium contamination”, presented by the deputies of the ecological group Benoît Biteau and Clémentine Autain.
Naturally present in the environment, this metal is also – and importantly – contained in fertilizers made from phosphorus-containing rocks that farmers use to increase yields. After it is spread in the fields, the metal is absorbed by plants and contaminates food and then the body.
A historic victory, therefore, for the environment and for the people, but also against the far right and some members of the Republican right who voted against the text. The law was in fact supported by all the forces of the left, as well as by the centrist groups Horizons, MoDem and Renaissance.
What does the bill provide?
The executive had recently presented a much less ambitious regulatory project. The government proposal effectively provides for a limit of 60 mg/kg in 2027, 40 mg/kg in 2030 and 20 mg/kg only by 2038. A roadmap which, according to the promoters of the law, would delay the implementation of the first recommendations formulated by Anses in 2019 by almost twenty years.
To become final, the proposal will now have to be examined by the Senate, where the legislative calendar is particularly congested. In the meantime, however, an important step has already been marked in the European debate on food safety and the impact of fertilizers, at a time when there is growing attention towards environmental contaminants that can accumulate in agricultural land and in food intended for human consumption.
Sources: Assemblée nationale / Vert
